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A man from Lancashire who encouraged Islamic extremists to wage jihad in the West, including targeting Prince George and injecting poison in to supermarket ice-cream, has been convicted today (31 May). Husnain Rashid, 32, posted messages online glorifying successful terrorist atrocities committed by others while encouraging and inciting his readers to plan and commit attacks. One of his posts included a photograph of Prince George, along with the address of his school, a black silhouette of a jihad fighter and the message ìeven the royal family will not be left aloneî. His common theme was that attacks could be carried out by one individual acting alone. Rashid suggested perpetrators had the option of using poisons, vehicles, weapons, bombs, chemicals or knives. Rashid uploaded terrorist material to an online library he created with the goal of helping others plan an attack. He also planned to travel to Turkey and Syria with the intention of fighting in Daesh-controlled territories. He contacted individuals he believed to be in Daesh territory, seeking advice on how to reach Syria and how to obtain the required authorisation necessary to join a fighting group. Rashid provided one individual who had travelled to Syria and was known online as ìRepunzelî, with information about methods of shooting down aircraft and jamming missile systems. All the offences relate to Rashidís activities online between October 2016 and his arrest in November 2017. Rashidís trial started on 23 May at Woolwich Crown Court but he changed his plea to guilty on four counts on 31 May. He will be sentenced on 28 June. Sue Hemming from the CPS said: ìHusnain Rashid is an extremist who not only sought to encourage others to commit attacks on targets in the West but was planning to travel aboard so he could fight himself. ìHe tried to argue that he had not done anything illegal but with the overwhelming weight of evidence against him he changed his plea to guilty. ìThe judge will now deci
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(FILES) This image grab taken from a propaganda video released on July 5, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows the leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, aka Caliph Ibrahim, adressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The Russian army on June 16, 2017 said it hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed. In a statement, the army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold. / AFP PHOTO / AL-FURQAN MEDIA / --/AFP/Getty Images
(FILES) This image grab taken from a propaganda video released on July 5, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows the leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, aka Caliph Ibrahim, adressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The Russian army on June 16, 2017 said it hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed. In a statement, the army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold. / AFP PHOTO / AL-FURQAN MEDIA / --/AFP/Getty Images
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Story highlights

The designation applies to what the U.S. now calls ISIS-K (ISIS-Khorasan), which is the ISIS branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan

According to U.S. officials, the change now means that U.S. forces can actively pursue ISIS elements and attack them as a threat to the United States

(CNN) —  

The Pentagon has now been granted new legal authority allowing the military go on the offensive against ISIS in Afghanistan.

When the State Department announced the designation of ISIS in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a Foreign Terrorist Organization last week, it led to a change in the rules of engagement for U.S. forces, according to defense officials. The development was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The designation applies to what the U.S. now calls ISIS-K (ISIS-Khorasan), which is the ISIS branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS-K already is believed to be responsible for suicide and small-arms attacks and kidnappings, targeting civilians and Afghan government officials.

According to U.S. officials, the change now means that U.S. forces can actively pursue ISIS elements and attack them as a threat to the United States. Previous rules of engagement required ISIS elements to first pose a threat to U.S. forces in the area or to be pursued as part of a specific counterterrorism mission, officials said.

The consequence of the State Department designation is that there is a prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to this organization.

The U.S. says ISIS-K formed in January 2015, pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS’s leader. It’s not clearly known how many operatives the group has. But the U.S. believes that the group includes mainly individuals who defected from Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP) and the Afghan Taliban.

ISIS-K’s leader is Hafez Saeed Khan, a former member of the TTP, according to the defense officials.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, criticized the White House for not changing the rules of engagement more quickly.

“It shouldn’t have taken a year for the White House to identify ISIS as a threat in Afghanistan and authorize our forces to engage them,” Thornberry said in a statement. “In fact, the committee understands that our military made two requests last year to combat this emerging ISIS threat, the first dating back to February 2015. Once again, the President’s inaction and denial of the ISIS threat has only resulted in its growth and put our troops and our Afghan partners at greater risk.”