On Mar. 26, a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet deployed in the Gulf region conducted an unusual mission, dropping some 60,000 leaflets over Raqqa region, the ISIS stronghold and de-facto capital in Syria.The leaflet includes a gruesome cartoon drawing, showing 7 men being lined up for a meat grinder (labeled “Daesh”) by a “Daesh Recruiting Office.” Daesh is the Arabic acronym for ISIS that members of the jihadist group find offensive.

The leaflets were released by means of a PDU-5B leaflet canister. 

The purpose of the leaflet is to support Psychological Operations or PSYOPS against ISIS in Syria. The message of the leaflet is clear: those recruited by ISIS will find themselves in a figurative meat grinder and could actually turn into the group’s next victims. The aim is to both dissuade individuals from joining ISIS while highlighting the group’s paranoia and disunity.

US Department of Defense

There are other recent instances of US battlefield PSYOPS. During the 2011 NATO air war in Libya, US Air Force EC-130s broadcast radio messages to the Libyan military to persuade them to return to their families before it was too late, while Italian C-130J aircraft dropped leaflets over Tripoli to counter the Gaddafi regime’s propaganda in Libya’s capital city.

Air drop of leaflets in support of Information Operations have also been conducted by the US Army above Helmand province, Afghanistan, using US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft to deliver information to areas of Helmand province that are unreachable by conventional communication.

Leaflets have been also airdropped by Syrian Arab Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopters over Aleppo in August 2012 to urge rebels to surrender to the Syrian Army. Israeli A-4 have also dropped leaflets over Gaza to warn civilians of impending military action.