In this image, Kuwait is highlighted as a jihadi target. While jihadi groups and media companies typically focus on major theaters of conflict such as Afghanistan and Iraq, occasionally they will focus their mobilization efforts on more stable countries. The caption reads: “ghayth al-kuwayt, ya amali” (“O my hope, rain cloud of Kuwait”). The horse and rider motif is common in jihadi visual propaganda. The rider emphasizes the element of human agency in jihad, and is a way to enhance the traditional symbol of a horse and flesh out notions of aggression and the call to jihad. The horse is an important symbol in both pre-Islamic Arabia and Islamic culture, as evidenced by pre-Islamic poetry, hadiths (prophetic traditions or reports) and other genres of literature ascribing horses with the positive qualities of chivalry, bravery in battle and victory. Horses are also symbolic of the first generation of Muslims and that generation’s successful military campaigns, and are thus often employed to evoke the military victories of Muhammad and his companions, including the concept of jihad itself.
