Jihadists are now using SNAPCHAT to spread propaganda after being banned from Facebook and Twitter

Jihadists are now using Snapchat to spread propaganda after being banned from Twitter and Facebook.

The mobile app, which is used by Western schoolchildren to send selfies, is the latest method Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria are using to document their life in the warzone.

Accounts regularly post images of heavy artillery and AK47's, as well as the more banal aspects of life inside the war-ravaged country such as their dinner.

Pictures show militants sitting on the floor while feasting on bread, hummus, falafel and vegetables.

One militant has posted footage of the aftermath of artillery rounds and airstrikes and regularly flaunts his armoury of machine guns and heavy artillery.

Another of the accounts, operated by a member of the hardline jihadist group Ahrar Al-Sham has regularly posted videos of pro-Al-Qaeda cleric Abdallah Muhammad Al-Muhaysini. One see's the preacher sitting in the city of Aleppo, a key battle ground in the country's civil war, just minutes away from the frontline.

Many of the Snapchats are sent from the region of Idlib, the heartland of the Syrian opposition where may jihadists have been able to find some refuge.

However, there are suggestions that Snapchat could prove a weakness for a groups, earlier this month one militant indicated at a new military operation in the Syrian province of Hama, a leak which could potentially have compromised the military operation.

Last week Twitter claimed to have closed 360,000 ISIS linked accounts and Facebook attempted to close down pages used by jihadists for recruitment and even to sell weapons.

With their social media accounts being shut down, fighters have switched to communicating via more advanced and encrypted applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

However Snapchat represents a break away from that trend as it is a more accessible app overwhelmingly used by teenagers.

One account bears the name Harithah, named after a notorious military commander who was a companion of the profit Mohammed, whilst another is named after Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the spiritual founder of Saudi Arabia's notoriously strict brand of Islam.

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