Islamic extremists executes 'dozens' of captured Syrian soldiers
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
28 August 2014
Islamic State militants appear to have executed dozens of Syrian army soldiers after capturing Tabqa air base in northeast Syria at the weekend, pictures posted on social media by supporters showed on Wednesday.
The jihadists boasted on Twitter that they had killed 200 defeated troops and posted video of what they said was the garrison in headlong flight.
"Dozens of Syrian soldiers captured while fleeing... after the ISIS overran Tabqa air base were executed by the jihadists during the night," said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Tabqa was the army’s last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by Islamic State militants on Sunday after weeks of fierce fighting. IS militants have seized large areas of Syria and Iraq. The United States has carried out air strikes on the group in Iraq and is considering its options in Syria.
The Observatory said 346 IS fighters and more than 170 members of the security forces were killed in the final battle, which lasted five days.Rahman, told the AFP news agency that about 1,400 troops had been stationed at the airbase, 700 of whom managed to escape.
The Islamic State, which last week shocked the world by executing American journalist James Foley and circulating the macabre video showing his decapitation, reportedly beheaded a number of captured Syrian soldiers Sunday and put their severed heads on display in the city of Raqqa
According to Reuters ,In one picture posted online, a group of militants in balaclavas are seen gunning down at least seven kneeling men identified as army personnel. It was not possible to immediately confirm the authenticity of the images.
Other photos showed groups of eight to 10 soldiers taken hostage, some with face wounds and three identified as officers. The photos appeared to show at least two dozen hostages
The Syrian observatory for human rights reported on the 13th of August that the Islamic State had captured several towns and villages from rival Ismlamist groups in the Syrian province of Aleppo.
The Islamic State has unleashed a bloody wave of repression in Syria, conducting mass executions, threats and house demolitions.
After the Al-Qaeda splinter group seized control of Mosul on June 10, it loaded up to 1,500 prisoners from the city’s Badush prison onto trucks and took them to a vacant area for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were taken away again on the trucks.
“ISIS gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said, adding that up to 670 inmates lost their lives.
Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen were among the minorities targeted by the militants.
Hundreds of members of the Yazidi community in Nineveh have been killed and up to 2,500 were kidnapped at the beginning of August. And in Cotcho village in Southern Sinjar on 15 August, hundreds more Yazidis were killed and abducted.
TheISIS, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, see Shia Muslims and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels. ISIS has called on the Yazidi community to either convert to Islam or accept being killed.
Meanwhile, United States began to conduct exploration and surveillance planes over Syria after the approval of President Barack Obama on it, according to the Associated Press, in a move that could pave the way to the air strikes against ISIS.
Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.
U.S. officials said the United States is preparing military options in order to put pressure on "Islamic state" in Syrian territory, but stressed that they have not yet made any decision to expand U.S military action except limited air strikes taking place in Iraq.
President Barack Obama sought for limited military campaign in Iraq, focusing on "the protection of U.S. diplomats and civilians under immediate threat." But officials have not ruled out a military escalation on the Islamic State, which has increased from overt threats to the United States.
Sources
www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-syria-crisis-idUSKBN0GR0N920140827
www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28965959
28 August 2014
Islamic State militants appear to have executed dozens of Syrian army soldiers after capturing Tabqa air base in northeast Syria at the weekend, pictures posted on social media by supporters showed on Wednesday.
The jihadists boasted on Twitter that they had killed 200 defeated troops and posted video of what they said was the garrison in headlong flight.
"Dozens of Syrian soldiers captured while fleeing... after the ISIS overran Tabqa air base were executed by the jihadists during the night," said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Tabqa was the army’s last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by Islamic State militants on Sunday after weeks of fierce fighting. IS militants have seized large areas of Syria and Iraq. The United States has carried out air strikes on the group in Iraq and is considering its options in Syria.
The Observatory said 346 IS fighters and more than 170 members of the security forces were killed in the final battle, which lasted five days.Rahman, told the AFP news agency that about 1,400 troops had been stationed at the airbase, 700 of whom managed to escape.
The Islamic State, which last week shocked the world by executing American journalist James Foley and circulating the macabre video showing his decapitation, reportedly beheaded a number of captured Syrian soldiers Sunday and put their severed heads on display in the city of Raqqa
According to Reuters ,In one picture posted online, a group of militants in balaclavas are seen gunning down at least seven kneeling men identified as army personnel. It was not possible to immediately confirm the authenticity of the images.
Other photos showed groups of eight to 10 soldiers taken hostage, some with face wounds and three identified as officers. The photos appeared to show at least two dozen hostages
The Syrian observatory for human rights reported on the 13th of August that the Islamic State had captured several towns and villages from rival Ismlamist groups in the Syrian province of Aleppo.
The Islamic State has unleashed a bloody wave of repression in Syria, conducting mass executions, threats and house demolitions.
After the Al-Qaeda splinter group seized control of Mosul on June 10, it loaded up to 1,500 prisoners from the city’s Badush prison onto trucks and took them to a vacant area for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were taken away again on the trucks.
“ISIS gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said, adding that up to 670 inmates lost their lives.
Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen were among the minorities targeted by the militants.
Hundreds of members of the Yazidi community in Nineveh have been killed and up to 2,500 were kidnapped at the beginning of August. And in Cotcho village in Southern Sinjar on 15 August, hundreds more Yazidis were killed and abducted.
TheISIS, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, see Shia Muslims and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels. ISIS has called on the Yazidi community to either convert to Islam or accept being killed.
Meanwhile, United States began to conduct exploration and surveillance planes over Syria after the approval of President Barack Obama on it, according to the Associated Press, in a move that could pave the way to the air strikes against ISIS.
Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.
U.S. officials said the United States is preparing military options in order to put pressure on "Islamic state" in Syrian territory, but stressed that they have not yet made any decision to expand U.S military action except limited air strikes taking place in Iraq.
President Barack Obama sought for limited military campaign in Iraq, focusing on "the protection of U.S. diplomats and civilians under immediate threat." But officials have not ruled out a military escalation on the Islamic State, which has increased from overt threats to the United States.
Sources
www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/us-syria-crisis-idUSKBN0GR0N920140827
www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28965959
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