Islamic State Beheads, Crucifies In Push For Syria

Islamic State beheads, crucifies in push for Syria's east


A Syrian opposition group photo shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now known as Islamic State, during a parade in Raqqa, Syria.



BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State has crushed a pocket of resistance to its control in eastern Syria, crucifying two people and executing 23 others in the past five days, a monitoring group said on Monday.

The insurgents, who are also making rapid advances in Iraq, are tightening their grip in Syria, of which they now controls roughly a third, mostly rural areas in the north and east.

The group, an al Qaeda offshoot, has fought the Syrian army, Kurdish militias and Sunni Muslim tribal forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring organization, and residents in Syria's east said that fighters from the al-Sheitaat tribe in eastern Deir al-Zor had tried to resist Islamic State's advance this month.

In al-Shaafa, a town on the banks of the Euphrates river, Islamic State beheaded two men from the al-Sheitaat clan on Sunday, the Observatory said, and gave residents a 12-hour deadline on Monday to hand over members of the tribe.

In other parts of Deir al-Zor province, the militants crucified two men for the crime of "dealing with apostates" in the city of Mayadin, and two others for blasphemy in the nearby town of al-Bulel, the Observatory said.

Islamic State has made rapid gains in Syria since it seized northern Iraq's largest city, Mosul, on June 10, and declared an Islamic caliphate on territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.

The Observatory said a further 19 men from the al-Sheitaat tribe were executed on Thursday, 18 shot dead and one beheaded, on the outskirts of Deir al-Zor city. It said the men worked at an oil installation.

“No one will now dare from the other tribes to move against Islamic State after the defeat of the al-Sheitaat,” said Ahmad Ziyada al-Qaissi, an Islamic State sympathizer contacted by Skype from Mayadin.

Tribal sources say the conflict between Islamic State and the al-Sheitaat tribe, who number about 70,000, flared after Islamic State took over of two oil fields in July.

One of those, al-Omar, is the biggest oil and gas field in Deir al-Zor and has been a lucrative source of funds for rebel groups.

The head of the al-Sheitaat tribe, Sheikh Rafaa Aakla al-Raju, called in a video message for other tribes to join the fight against Islamic State.

“We appeal to the other tribes to stand by us because it will be their turn next ... If (Islamic State) are done with us the other tribes will targeted after al-Sheitaat. They are the next target,” he said in the video, posted on YouTube on Sunday.

A Syrian human rights activist from Deir al-Zor who fled for Turkey last year said rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad had retreated to al-Sheitaat tribal areas from which they had been trying to mount resistance to Islamic State's expansion.

He said, on condition of anonymity, that the resistance had been crushed in the last few days. "The situation is very bad, but the people can't repel them," he said.

He said that in tandem with their violent campaign, Islamic State was distributing gas, electricity, fuel and food to garner local support.

"It is a poor area. They are winning support this way. They won a lot of support this way. They are halting theft and punishing thieves. This is also giving them credibility."

More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which pits overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority, backed by Shi'ite militias from Iraq and Lebanon.

The insurgency is split between competing factions, with Islamic State emerging as the most powerful.

In Raqqa, Islamic State's power base in Syria, its hold appears to be growing only firmer even as Syrian government forces intensify air strikes on territory held by the group.

One Syrian living in an area of Islamic State control near Raqqa said the number of its fighters in the streets had grown dramatically in the last few weeks, particularly since it captured the army's 17th Division at the end of July.

The group has carried out beheadings, levied a tax on non-Muslims, and settled foreign fighters in confiscated homes, said the resident, who asked for anonymity due to security concerns.

But despite that, as in Deir al-Zor, it has won a degree of respect among locals by curbing crime using their version law of and order. For youths without work, salaries offered by Islamic State are one of the few sources of income.

"The (Islamic) State has respect and standing and its voice is heard," said the resident, speaking by Skype.

Source

At least they aren't crucifying people based on their religion.

When Al-Qaeda thinks you're extremists, you know you're hardcore.

That being said, seeing some kids holding severed heads on the battlefield really sends the message home.

What all of them are doing is not "Islamic", more like terrorism.

It's just another quarrel that is supposed to give "Islam" a bad name.

Pathetic.

What all of them are doing is not "Islamic", more like terrorism.

It's just another quarrel that is supposed to give "Islam" a bad name.

Pathetic.

I feel like someone was trying to warn you about these rebels awhile back ago, something about killing people and eating their hearts and livers.

Probably just my imagination though.

I hate the middle east with a damn passion, such a messed up place what with the people using religion as an excuse to kill (Let's face it, most of them probably don't give two shits about the religion, they just want to kill people.)

Yeah, but we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

So, we will just throw money at the problem until it goes away (or they kill each other).

They're essentially doing the same thing there that the cartels are doing in Central America, only with oil instead of drugs.

It's really unfortunate.

I hate the middle east with a damn passion, such a messed up place what with the people using religion as an excuse to kill (Let's face it, most of them probably don't give two shits about the religion, they just want to kill people.)

Yet.

Taxing non-Muslims is a start thought. You know they'll get around to it eventually.

They always do.

I hate the middle east with a damn passion, such a messed up place what with the people using religion as an excuse to kill (Let's face it, most of them probably don't give two shits about the religion, they just want to kill people.)

I've informed you on this before. You seem to forget. All citizens within the state get taxed.
For the muslims of the state it is a religious duty.
For the none muslims, they don't enforce islam on them. But they still pay the same amount of tax that the muslims citizens do.
They ALL pay taxes.
For muslims its called Zakat and for none muslims its called Jizya. None Muslims also are afforded every single last right legally as muslims citizens. So why shouldn't they be taxed?
Do you only tax the muslims in the US and not tax the Christians?

The group has carried out beheadings, levied a tax on non-Muslims, and settled foreign fighters in confiscated homes, said the resident, who asked for anonymity due to security concerns.

Anywhere and anytime the US fiddles with other sovereign's politics and internal affairs results in the situation.

What you should hate is US foreign policy.

Hating the middle east for whats going on is about as sane as hating your broken arm and not the bully who broke it in the first place.

Do you only tax the muslims in the US and not tax the Christians?

Anywhere and anytime the US fiddles with other sovereign's politics and internal affairs results in the situation.

What you should hate is US foreign policy.

Hating the middle east for whats going on is about as sane as hating your broken arm and not the bully who broke it in the first place.

It's not "like terrorism".

It is terrorism. Beheadings and crucifixtions are not merely punishment or killing an enemy; they're literally done to inspire fear and terror in enemies and try to scare them into submission or inaction.

No I hate the Middle East. Everyone hates the US, that's already out on the table, been out on the table.

We leave them alone, then the people ask for the US's help again. I guarantee if military action is taken again, people in other countries will demonize the US, when countries like UK and France are the ones who pretty much caused the Six-Day War in 1967, and we all know what that festered into today.

Very true. These people are crazy. And it is absolutely terrorism.

But so is this:
Still waiting on those weapons of Mass Destruction. 11 years on ..

Leave them alone? Why did the US go to war with Iraq?
Al Qaeda link - debunked. Anyone with even a remote understand of Sadam lead Ba'athist Iraq would understand that Iraq hated Al Qaeda more than it did Israel.

Weapons of Mass Destruction? Debunked. Woops.

To liberate the people? They're more oppressed and in a state of perpetual war because the US decimated their military and state institutions creating a vacume for Iranian pro militias to wipe out 40% of the population. When that started, only then did the US exit with its tail between its legs.

'murica!

US goes and shits on a country and then its citizens who have the memories of goldfish sit on forums and talk about how barbaric these other nations are.

Look to your own.

Yeah. Because the Middle East was a paradise before European/Western involvement. Islamic nations/factions have never ever been the aggressor in anything unprovoked.

Leave them alone? Why did the US go to war with Iraq?
Al Qaeda link - debunked. Anyone with even a remote understand of Sadam lead Ba'athist Iraq would understand that Iraq hated Al Qaeda more than it did Israel.

Weapons of Mass Destruction? Debunked. Woops.

To liberate the people? They're more oppressed and in a state of perpetual war because the US decimated their military and state institutions creating a vacume for Iranian pro militias to wipe out 40% of the population. When that started, only then did the US exit with its tail between its legs.

'murica!

US goes and shits on a country and then its citizens who have the memories of goldfish sit on forums and talk about how barbaric these other nations are.

Look to your own.