Iran says it rebuffed US invitation to join anti-Islamic State coalition

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1623" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> By Mehrdad Balali</div> <div class="body-slot-mod" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.3076953887939px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-width: 300px;"> <div class="yom-remote"> <div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"> </div> </div> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1621" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> DUBAI (Reuters) - <span capspos="51" class="cap-annotation cap-annotation_s2s" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(50, 79, 225); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;">Iran</span>’s supreme leader<span capspos="73" class="cap-annotation cap-annotation_s2s" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1626" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(50, 79, 225); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;">Ayatollah Ali Khamenei</span> said on Monday he had vetoed a U.S. invitation to cooperate in fighting<span capspos="168" class="cap-annotation cap-annotation_s2s" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1719" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(50, 79, 225); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;">Islamic State</span>, but Washington insisted it would not coordinate militarily with Iran against the militants.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1627" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> “The American ambassador in <span capspos="318" class="cap-annotation cap-annotation_s2s" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(50, 79, 225); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;">Iraq</span> asked our ambassador (in Iraq) for a session to discuss coordinating a fight against Daesh (Islamic State),” said Khamenei, in quotes carried on state news agency IRNA.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1629" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> “Our ambassador in Iraq reflected this to us, which was welcomed by some (Iranian) officials, but I was opposed. I saw no point in cooperating with a country whose hands are dirty and intentions murky."</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1631" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> He said it was Iran’s choice not to work with the country the <span capspos="791" class="cap-annotation cap-annotation_s2s" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(50, 79, 225); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px;">Islamic Republic</span> has traditionally called the Great Satan, having also refused similar overtures to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy Abbas Araqchi.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1660" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> Khamenei rejected recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Washington was opposed to any Iranian role in a international coalition against Islamic State.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1991" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> “Now they (the U.S) are lying, in saying that it is them who excluded us from their coalition, while it was Iran that refused to participate in this collation to begin with,” said Khamenei, 75, who left hospital on Monday following prostate surgery.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1995" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> In Paris, a conference opened on Monday to discuss how to curb the jihadist movement that has seized a third of Iraq and Syria. Iran was not represented.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1993" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> Khamenei questioned U.S. resolve in fighting Islamic State, which has captured tracts of land in Syria and Iraq and has become the most potent opposition to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran's.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1617" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> "American officials' comments on forming an anti-Islamic State (alliance) are blank, hollow and self-serving, and contradictions in their behaviors and statements attest to this fact," said Khamenei.</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1615" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> Khamenei said Washington wanted in Iraq what it had in Pakistan -- "a playground where they can enter freely and bomb at will".</div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1410798330903_1613" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.0000019073486px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> "The Americans should keep in mind that if they go ahead with such a thing, then the same problems that they faced in Iraq in the past 10 years will come back," he said, referring to years of conflict between U.S. forces and an array of armed Iraqi groups.</div> </div>

Iran says it rebuffed US invitation to join anti-Islamic State coalition

By Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) -  Iran ’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  said on Monday he had vetoed a U.S. invitation...

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PART 2: Hours after shocking world with desert execution of 300 Syrian soldiers, ISIS parade captured Kurds then behead one on video

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </h1> <ul class="article-summary news mol-bullets-with-font" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">IS issues second 'warning' to the U.S in video showing another decapitation</span></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">Footage shows captured Kurdish peshmerga dressed in orange boiler suits</span></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">It then cuts to one of the captives being beheaded before a Mosul mosque</span></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">They are thought to have been captured while fighting IS in Iraq</span></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Comes hours after startling footage of mass summary execution in Syria</strong></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Men in only their underwear form a long line stretching across the desert</b></li> <li class="" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State fighter said men were from Tabqa air base, captured this week</b></li> </ul> <div class="author-section" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By <a class="author" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Tom+Wyke" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">TOM WYKE</a> and <a class="author" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Dan+Bloom" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">DAN BLOOM</a> and <a class="author" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Corey+Charlton+for+MailOnline" rel="nofollow" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE</a></span></div> <div class="byline-section" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-published"><span class="article-timestamp-label" style="font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></span></span></div> <div class="byline-section" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-published"><span class="article-timestamp-label" style="font-weight: 700;">PUBLISHED:</span> 02:18, 29 August 2014 </span>| <span class="article-timestamp article-timestamp-updated"><span class="article-timestamp-label" style="font-weight: 700;">UPDATED:</span> 09:43, 29 August 2014</span></span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State have released a new decapitation video, threatening America for the second time and urging the Kurds to break from their alliance with the West against the caliphate.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just hours after Islamic State released shocking footage of the mass execution of 300 Syrian national army soldiers in the Syrian desert, Islamic State have issued a second warning to the United States.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The grainy video, accompanied by the hashtag '2ndAmessagetoAmerica', shows the vicious beheading of a Kurdish soldier, who was part of a group of 15 fighters likely to have been captured by Islamic State during the fighting in Iraq.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The group's first warning ten days ago was entitled 'A Message to America' and showed the decapitation of American journalist James Foley.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <br /></div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Footage of another fifteen members of Kurdish militia captured by the brutal jihadists has been released" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="0" height="356" id="i-8c2628c6107ca145" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E3489400000578-99_634x356.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Footage of another fifteen members of Kurdish militia captured by the brutal jihadists has been released</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Video of the beheading comes hours after footage emerged of the execution of 300 Syrian soldiers" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="1" height="355" id="i-1d916d09ee0c5385" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E3481500000578-265_634x355.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Video of the beheading comes hours after footage emerged of the execution of 300 Syrian soldiers</span></div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Jihadists issue their warning that the beheadings will continue if the U.S. continues to support the Kurds" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="2" height="381" id="i-1fc3182ce8c6a691" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E348D700000578-665_634x381.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jihadists issue their warning that the beheadings will continue if the U.S. continues to support the Kurds</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="moduleFull" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a class="namedLink" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" name="video" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"></a></span><br /> <div class="item" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <div id="v-3755181513001" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; width: 636px;"> <div class="videoplayer-large" style="height: 358px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; overflow-y: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 636px;"> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"></a><br /> <div class="videoplayer-title-bg" style="box-shadow: rgb(51, 51, 51) 0px 3px 5px; height: 26px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 636px;"> </div> <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6089869001362915509" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="videoplayer-title" style="left: 6px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 4px;"> ISIS promise to kill captured Kurds in shocking new video</div> <div class="btnBg" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 6px; border-bottom-right-radius: 6px; border-top-left-radius: 6px; border-top-right-radius: 6px; box-shadow: rgb(51, 51, 51) 2px 2px 3px; height: 85px; left: 275.5px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 140px; width: 85px;"> </div> <span class="playbtn" style="border-color: transparent transparent transparent rgb(255, 255, 255); border-style: dashed dashed dashed solid; border-width: 0.53em 0.53em 0.53em 1em; display: inline-block; height: 0px; left: 289.5px; position: absolute; right: 0.25em; top: 151.5px; vertical-align: middle; width: 0px;"></span><center style="text-align: left;"> <img class="plcHlder" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/video-undefined-20E34F6500000578-969_636x358.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: 358px; margin: 0px; max-width: 636px; padding: 0px; width: 636px;" /></center> </a></div> <div class="news" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="wocc videoplayer-keyline" style="border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; height: 4px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the latest video, the captors first issue a warning they will continue to decapitate prisoners should America continue to support the Kurds in their fight against the Islamic State.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They then behead one of the captives on a sandy roadside in Iraq, where the Great Mosque of Mosul can be seen in the background.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish forces have been in fierce fighting with Islamic State since June and their militias have been beginning to receive considerable amounts of armaments from Western powers including the USA and UK.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is the latest front line in a brutal power struggle taking place through Syria and Iraq as the Islamic State attempts to extend its influence and impose Sharia law across the region.</span></div> <div class="relatedItemsTopBorder" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="relatedItems" data-track-module="am-related_items^related_items" data-track-pos="static" data-track-selector="a:not([class*=external])" style="margin: 0px; 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min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Hundreds of Yazidi women held in Islamic State prison where they are raped and sold off as jihadi brides for as little as $25</span></a></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2736481/US-investigates-reports-second-American-killed-Syria.html" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Second American confirmed killed fighting for ISIS in Syria: Father-of-nine dies in same battle as militant rapper jihadi</span></a></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2737095/Survivor-ISIS-childrens-camp-reveals-young-boys-whipped-watch-men-crucified-women-stoned-death.html" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Survivor of ISIS children's camp reveals how young boys are whipped and made to watch men being crucified and women stoned to death</span></a></li> <li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2736974/Are-content-eating-Nando-s-week-British-Jihadi-s-call-arms-revealed-family-tell-thought-studying-Germany-s-fighting-Iraq-five-months.html" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">'Are we content with eating Nando's every week?' British Jihadi's call to arms revealed as family tell how they thought he was studying in Germany but he's been fighting in Iraq for five months</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While the captives and executors are dressed in similar fashion to those seen in the James Foley execution 10 days ago, it is unclear if the two incidents were carried out by the same people.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The production of the propaganda video also differs - with the beheading shown alongside still images of American and Kurdish officials in an attempt to help convey the executioner's message.</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the six minute video, which has not been independently verified, the prisoners, who are are seen wearing orange boiler suits similar to those worn by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, confirm that they had been fighting for the Peshmerga, and had been captured by the jihadist group.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The video includes one earlier shot of the Kurdish soldiers, appearing to still be wearing their Peshmerga uniforms, shortly after they were captured. Speaking in Kurdish, one of the prisoners, Hassan Mohammed Hashin, reads out a carefully pre-prepared statement, lambasting the Kurdish leaders: 'You have made a huge mistake by joining hands with America.'</span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A still image taken from the video which purports to show a surrendering Kurdish soldier" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="3" height="356" id="i-18b27f3decda8f1b" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E348E000000578-415_634x356.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A still image taken from the video which purports to show a surrendering Kurdish soldier</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It then shows one of the prisoners kneeling in the sandy ground of what appears to be a roadside square near Mosul, believed to be al-Saed. In the background, the Great mosque of Mosul can be seen, where Islamic State’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now self-proclaimed caliph Ibrahim, made his speech in early July.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Three Islamic State fighters stand behind the Kurdish soldiers wearing an almost identical black uniform to the British jihadist who executed American journalist James Foley last week.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speaking in Arabic, one of the masked fighters standing in the centre begins to deliver his hateful message to the Americans: 'In the name of God, peace be upon him. I have two messages: the first one is for the dog of Roman, the jerk Obama, how did you send your nation and soldiers again to Iraq, did you forget the thousands of dead Americans who you gave them as a sacrifice for wars. Did you forget thousands of images of corpses, deformed and those people who still suffer?</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">'Did the economy of America recovered from its crises to get into a new one? But the second message is for the servant of the Jewish Mas'od, this is the destiny of one of the militant and others who you sent to Muslims unless you finish your work with the Jewish and your allied with the Crusaders.'</span></div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="The victim is thought to be a member of the Kurdish militia, who have been fighting with Islamic State since June" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="4" height="376" id="i-1ea15f19f3ab821b" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E3491600000578-488_634x376.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The victim is thought to be a member of the Kurdish militia, who have been fighting with Islamic State since June</span></div> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div class="artSplitter" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="The captors threaten to continue beheading the prisoners should Obama's (right) assistance continue" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="5" height="355" id="i-86f092d71b418940" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/29/article-2737344-20E3493300000578-12_634x355.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The captors threaten to continue beheading the prisoners should Obama's (right) assistance continue</span></div> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The jihadist condemns Obama’s decision for America’s support for the Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State, insisting that 'by God's will your intervention and your offence to Muslims will finish you and your America.' As well as threatening America again, the second part of the jihadist's speech was to condemn the alliance between Iraqi Kurdistan and America’s military support.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Unsheathing a large knife from his belt, the jihadist grabs hold of the prisoner’s dark hair, tilts his head back and begins to cut off the head. Like the terrifying video of James Foley’s execution, the camera cuts away to only later show a brief shot of the decapitation.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Islamic State executor vows to keep beheading more of the prisoners if America and the Iraqi Kurdistan continue to work together, warning 'this is the destiny of all the other prisoners if you don’t stop your alliance with the crusaders.'</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The video ends with Islamic State fighters parading near Mosul in armoured personnel carriers, waving flags and brandishing their weapons in the air. Since the video was released by social media users supporting Islamic State, it has been accompanied by the hashtags '2ndAmessagetoAmerica' and 'AmessagetoBarzani'.</span></div> <div class="clear" style="border: 0px !important; clear: both; float: none !important; height: 0px !important; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; width: auto;"> </div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <div class="cleared art-ins news" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 50px; padding: 0px;"> <h3 class="wocc" style="font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 5px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>SYRIA: THE ISLAMIC STATE SAFE HAVEN</b></span></span></h3> <div class="ins cleared xolcc bdrcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 170, 210); margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 4px;"> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The United States has launched humanitarian aid packages and scores of bombing attacks on Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Iraq in a bid to assist Kurdish and Iraqi forces in their fightback.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But discussion has now shifted to whether the strikes should extend into Syria, where the militants have a safe haven and recently executed 300 Syrian soldiers.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President Barack Obama at first seemed to largely rule out that option, a decision that came as little surprise, given his long opposition to plunging the U.S. military into Syria, a country ravaged by civil war.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But staying out of Syria got more complicated after the extremists announced last week that they had killed American journalist James Foley and threatened to kill additional U.S. hostages in Syria.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Joint Chief of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey has said unequivocally that the Islamic State can only be defeated if the U.S. were to go after the group in Syria as well as Iraq.</span></div> <div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama said Thursday that he was weighing the prospect of military action in Syria, but yesterday tamped down any suggestion that such a move was imminent. And he said that even if he were ultimately to authorize strikes, they would have to come in conjunction with a broader regional strategy that addresses political turmoil in both Iraq and Syria.</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yesterday it was also being reported that the first soldier fighting for the Lebanese Armed Forces in Syria has been beheaded by Islamic State. Photos on social media have been released by IS, allegedly showing the head of a Lebanese Shiite soldier.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish fighters have been in fierce fighting with Islamic State since last June. Their latest counter attack against the jihadists has forced Islamic State fighters to retreat from the lucrative oil fields of Ain Zalah.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Peshmerga, literally meaning 'those who face death', further enhanced these recent successes by regaining control of parts of Zumar and Rab’ia in Ninevah province, bringing them closer to their target of re-taking Sinjar.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Kurdish militias have been beginning to receive considerable amounts of armaments from Western powers including the USA and UK as well as several local neighbours like Iran.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, the video released earlier yesterday shows Islamic State militants parading around 300  captured soldiers through the desert in their underwear before they are killed and their bodies piled on the bare earth.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">An Islamic State fighter claimed the men were from the Syrian government's Tabqa air base which extremists seized on Sunday, potentially handing them warplanes, tanks, artillery and ammunition.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The video, which has not been independently verified, is too graphic to be published in full.</span></div> <div class="mol-para-with-font" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It begins by showing dozens of men being marched through the desert wearing only their underwear. It then fades to black, resuming with a pile of bloodied bodies stacked on top of one another.</span></div> <div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="mol-img" style="margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="'Another ISIS war crime': Footage and photographs have emerged of Islamic State fighters marching more than 200 soldiers across the desert to their deaths in only their underwear after capturing Syria's Tabqa air base" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="6" height="464" id="i-fc7c8c7ce16e9e11" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/28/1409235115819_wps_6_Isis_marches_soldiers_to_.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><br /> <div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;"> <div class="mobile-gallery-icon" style="background-image: url(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/mobile/icon_camera_90x68.png); background-position: 10px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 27px; box-sizing: content-box; display: table-cell; float: none; height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 7px 10px 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 24px;"> </div> <span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+20</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div class="imageCaption" style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">'Another ISIS war crime': Footage and photographs have emerged of Islamic State fighters marching more than 200 soldiers across the desert to their deaths in only their underwear after capturing Syria's Tabqa air base</span><br /> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Follow Ebere Samuel (@FAVORD) on Twitter</span></div> </div> </div>

PART 2: Hours after shocking world with desert execution of 300 Syrian soldiers, ISIS parade captured Kurds then behead one on video

IS issues second 'warning' to the U.S in video showing another decapitation Footage shows captured Kurdish peshmerga dressed in...

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Obama says does not yet have military strategy for Islamic State

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> <img alt="U.S. President Barack Obama addresses reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room ahead of a meeting with his national security council in Washington, August 28, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing" border="0" src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140829&t=2&i=968547854&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=LYNXMPEA7R11A" style="display: block; width: 580px;" /></h1> <div class="relatedPhoto landscape" id="articleImage" style="clear: left !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: 0px; clear: both; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 590px; z-index: 2;"> <div class="rolloverBg" style="background-image: none; clear: both; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 610px !important;"> <div class="captionText" style="height: 60px; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">U.S. President Barack Obama addresses reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room ahead of a meeting with his national security council in Washington, August 28, 2014.</span></div> <div class="credit" style="margin-top: 5px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CREDIT: REUTERS/LARRY DOWNING</span></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="relatedRai" id="relatedInlineVideo"> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div class="module" id="relatedTopics" style="float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; width: 140px;"> <div class="moduleHeader" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: medium none; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED TOPICS</span></span></h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <ul style="clear: both; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/politics" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Politics »</span></a></li> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;">Syria »</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div id="thirdPartyLinkbackNews"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" id="relatedInteractive" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Reuters) - President <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/people/barack-obama?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Barack Obama</a></span> said on Thursday the United States has not yet developed a strategy for confronting Islamic State in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span>, an acknowledgement that a decision had not been made on whether to launch air strikes against the militant group.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama's comment during a White House news conference before a meeting of national security advisers about how to proceed against Islamic State drew criticism from Republicans and a clarification from White House spokesman Josh Earnest.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, said on Twitter: "President says "we don’t have a strategy yet" to deal with #ISIS. That's obvious and increasingly unacceptable."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earnest said Obama was referring to military options and that Obama has a comprehensive strategy for confronting the group through diplomatic means.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama's decision to begin U.S. surveillance flights over <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span> this week prompted speculation that he was on the brink of expanding the fight against Islamic State from <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iraq?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Iraq</a></span>into Syria and criticism from some lawmakers concerned that they had not been properly consulted over possible U.S. actions.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for lawmakers to vote on whether the United States should broaden its action against the Islamic State.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama shied away from launching air strikes in Syria a year ago to punish Syrian President Bashir al-Assad for using chemical weapons against his own people, and he has been reluctant to get involved in Syria's civil war, believing there are few options for the United States.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Public anger over the beheading of American journalist James Foley, however, has led Obama to consider military strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. So far, the U.S. has limited its actions to the group's forces in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iraq?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Iraq</a></span>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama said he has asked Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to prepare options for confronting Islamic State and said Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to the region to help create an anti-Islamic State coalition.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama's strategy for Islamic State is not limited to military action. It includes supporting moderate Sunni rebels in Syria and encouraging a unity government in Baghdad between Shi'ites and Sunnis, who have engaged in sectarian battles.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"My priority at this point is to make sure that the gains that ISIL (Islamic State) made in Iraq are rolled back and that Iraq has the opportunity to govern itself effectively and secure itself," he said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama said the options he had requested from military planners at the Pentagon focused primarily on making certain that Islamic State is "not overrunning Iraq."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Congressional concerns over potential U.S. military strikes in Syria have increased.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Democrats James McGovern of Massachusetts and Barbara Lee of California and Republican Walter Jones of North Carolina asked for Congressional debate and a vote on any authorization to use military force.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, said he thought Obama would have “significant congressional support” if he provided a strategic plan to protect the United States and its allies from the Sunni militants.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Obama promised that he would consult Congress, but unlike a year ago when strikes were considered against Syria, he did not vow to seek specific congressional authorization.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," he said. He said news reports have suggested he is on the verge of an elaborate strategy for defeating the group without consulting Congress.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"That's not what's going to happen," he said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(The story fixes typo in "been" in first paragraph)</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="articleText" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span class="focusParagraph"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span><span id="midArticle_5"></span><span id="midArticle_6"></span><span id="midArticle_7"></span><span id="midArticle_8"></span><span id="midArticle_9"></span><span id="midArticle_10"></span><span id="midArticle_11"></span><span id="midArticle_12"></span><span id="midArticle_13"></span><span id="midArticle_14"></span><span id="midArticle_15"></span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><span id="midArticle_1"></span><span id="midArticle_2"></span><span id="midArticle_3"></span><span id="midArticle_4"></span></span><br /> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Additional reporting by <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=roberta.rampton&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Roberta Rampton</a> and <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=mark.felsenthal&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Mark Felsenthal</a>; Editing by <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=sandra.maler&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Sandra Maler</a>,<a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=eric.walsh&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Eric Walsh</a>, <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=toni.reinhold&" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Toni Reinhold</a>)</div> </div>

Obama says does not yet have military strategy for Islamic State

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room ahead of a meeting with his national security...

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ISIS an 'Incredible' Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header class="header" style="margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 10px;"><h1 class="headline" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-hyphens: none; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-right: 40px; padding-top: 15px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <a data-rapid_p="6" data-ylk="rspns:xpnd;t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:ld;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;grpt:;edtr_vos:;g:;aid:8fe58b0b-6759-3cd3-b39b-dc79492a931b;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/isis-incredible-fighting-force-us-special-ops-sources-183719521--abc-news-topstories.html#" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); outline: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="ISIS an &#39;Incredible&#39; Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say" class="inview" height="379px" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/.8LFlqFRxrbaS0.5X2UWDw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM3OTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz02NzQ-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/us.abcnews.go.com/ap_isis_iraq_shakir_waheib_jc_140718_16x9_992.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; min-height: 1px; opacity: 1 !important; text-align: left; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 718px;" width="674px" /></span></a></h1> </header><div class="cover-wrap " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 30px; text-align: center; width: 718px;"> <div class=""> <div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <figure class=" cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox " data-id="8fe58b0b-6759-3cd3-b39b-dc79492a931b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-small" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 7px; border-bottom-right-radius: 7px; border-top-left-radius: 7px; border-top-right-radius: 7px; cursor: pointer; height: 45px; left: 50%; margin-left: -32px; margin-top: -23px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; top: 50%; width: 64px; z-index: 1;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></span></figure><div class="caption" style="margin: 7.5px 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-overflow: ellipsis;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ISIS an 'Incredible' Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say (ABC News)</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="body yom-art-content clearfix" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409173708911_1493" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article" style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px 10px; zoom: 1;"> <div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="border: none; clear: both; float: right; height: 250px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-height: 250px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit; width: 300px;"> <div class="darla" id="sb_rel_yom-ad-LREC-iframe" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: inline-block; height: 250px; position: relative; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 9;"> <iframe allowtransparency="true" async="" frameborder="no" hidefocus="true" id="yom-ad-LREC-iframe" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://l.yimg.com/rq/darla/2-8-1/html/r-sf.html" style="display: block; height: 250px; left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 0px; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 10;" tabindex="-1"></iframe></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With the Obama White House left reeling from the <a data-rapid_p="7" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/james-foley-apparent-executioner-british-intel-agencies-race/story?id=25051124" style="text-decoration: none;">"savage" slaughter</a> of an American journalist held hostage by<a data-rapid_p="8" href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/world/isis.htm" id="ramplink_ISIS_" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">ISIS</a> terrorists, military options are being considered against an adversary who officials say is growing in strength and is much more capable than the one faced when the group was called "al Qaeda-Iraq" during the U.S. war from 2003-2011.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and <a data-rapid_p="9" href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/syria.htm" id="ramplink_Syria_" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Syria</a>, has been making a "tactical withdrawal" in recent days in the face of withering U.S. airstrikes from areas around Erbil in northern Iraq and from the major dam just north of Mosul it controlled for two nail-biting weeks, according to military officials monitoring their movements.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"These guys aren't just bugging out, they're tactically withdrawing. Very professional, well trained, motivated and equipped. They operate like a state with a military," said one official who tracks ISIS closely. "These aren't the same guys we fought in OIF (<a data-rapid_p="10" href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/iraq/operation-iraqi-freedom.htm" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Operation Iraqi Freedom</a>) who would just scatter when you dropped a bomb near them."</span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div> <br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ISIS appeared to have a sophisticated and well thought-out plan for establishing its "Islamic Caliphate" from northern Syria across the western and northern deserts of Iraq, many experts and officials have said, and support from hostage-taking, robbery and sympathetic donations to fund it. They use drones to gather overhead intel on targets and effectively commandeer captured military vehicles – including American Humvees -- and munitions.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They tried to push out as far as they thought they could and were fully prepared to pull back a little bit when we beat them back with airstrikes around Erbil. And they were fine with that, and ready to hold all of the ground they have now," a second official told ABC News.</span></div> <br /> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> </div> <br /> <div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"> ISIS didn't necessarily count on holding Mosul Dam, officials said, but scored a major propaganda victory on social media when they hoisted the black flag of the group over the facility that provides electricity and water to a large swath of Iraq, or could drown millions if breached.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">U.S. special operations forces under the Joint Special Operations Command and U.S. Special Operations Command keep close tabs on the military evolution of ISIS and both its combat and terrorism -- called "asymmetric" -- capabilities, officials told ABC News. A primary reason is in anticipation of possibly fighting them, which a full squadron of special mission unit operators did in the <a data-rapid_p="15" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/secret-mission-rescue-us-hostages-flawless-rescue/story?id=25077207" style="text-decoration: none;">Independence Day raid</a> on an ISIS camp in Raqqah, Syria.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They're incredible fighters. ISIS teams in many places use special operations TTPs," said the second official, who has considerable combat experience, using the military term for "tactics, techniques and procedures."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In sobering press conference Friday, Secretary of Defense <a data-rapid_p="16" href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/us/chuck-hagel.htm" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Chuck Hagel</a> said ISIS has shown that it is “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“They’re beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded,” he said. “This is beyond anything that we’ve seen.”</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Prior ISIS’s recent public successes, the former chairman of the 9/11 Commission, which just released a tenth anniversary report on the threat of terrorism currently facing the homeland, said he was shocked at how little seems to be known inside the U.S. intelligence community about the Islamist army brutalizing Iraq as it has Syria.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I was appalled at the ignorance,” former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, who led the 9/11 Commission, told ABC News last week.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kean, a Republican, who with vice chairman Lee Hamilton, a Democrat, recently met with about 20 top intelligence officials in preparation of the commission’s latest threat report, said many officials seemed both blind-sided and alarmed by the group's rise, growth and competency.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“One official told me ‘I am more scared than at any time since 9/11,’” Kean recounted in a recent interview.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence defended the intelligence community’s tracking of ISIS, saying officials had “expressed concern” about the threat as far back as last year.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The will to fight is inherently difficult to assess. Analysts must make assessments based on perceptions of command and control, leadership abilities, quality of experience, and discipline under fire -- none of which can be understood with certainty until the first shots are fired,” ODNI spokesperson Brian Hale said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Where did ISIS learn such sophisticated military methods, shown clearly after the first shots were fired?</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Probably the Chechens," the one of the U.S. officials said.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Chechen commander named Abu Omar al-Shishani -- who officials say may have been killed in fighting near Mosul -- is well known for commanding an international brigade within ISIS. Other Chechens have appeared within propaganda videos including one commander who was killed on video by an artillery burst near his SUV in Syria.</span></div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1409173708911_1492" style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earlier this year, <a data-rapid_p="17" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/secret-battles-us-forces-chechen-terrorists/story?id=22580688" style="text-decoration: none;">ABC News reported</a> on the secret history of U.S. special operations forces' experiences battling highly capable Chechen fighters along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border since 2001. In addition, for decades Chechen separatists have waged asymmetric warfare against Russian forces for control of the Northern Caucasus.</span></div> <div> <br /></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the battle against ISIS, many within American "SOF," a term that comprises operators from all branches of the military and intelligence, are frustrated at being relegated by the President only to enabling U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. They are eager to fight ISIS more directly in combat operations -- even if untethered, meaning unofficially and with little if any U.S. government support, according to some with close ties to the community.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"ISIS and their kind must be destroyed," said a senior counterterrorism official after journalist James Foley was beheaded on high-definition ISIS video, echoing strong-worded statements of high-level U.S. officials including <a data-rapid_p="19" href="https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/502174375857381377" style="text-decoration: none;">Secretary of State John Kerry</a>.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But asked when the Obama administration would attempt to confront ISIS, the official declined to answer.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ben Rhodes, the President’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, told reporters Friday that Obama is currently focused on protecting American lives, “containing” ISIS where they are and supporting advances by Iraqi and Kurdish forces.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Our military objectives in Iraq right now are limited to protecting our personnel and facilities and address the humanitarian crisis,” Rhodes said. The “ultimate goal,” Rhodes said however, was to “defeat” ISIS.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We have to be clear that this is a deeply-rooted organization… It is going to take time, a long time, to fully evict them from the communities where they operate,” he said. “In the long term, we’ll be working with our partners to defeat this organization.”</span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

ISIS an 'Incredible' Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say

. ISIS an 'Incredible' Fighting Force, US Special Ops Sources Say (ABC News) With the Obama White House left reelin...

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Islamic State turns radical Islam on Syria Muslims

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br /> <div class="column2 gridPanel grid4" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 10px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; width: 300px; word-spacing: 0px;"> </div> <br /> <div class="column1 gridPanel grid8" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 10px; orphans: auto; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 10px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; width: 610px; word-spacing: 0px;"> <h1 style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 35px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"> <img alt="Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer" border="0" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140826&t=2&i=967128751&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=LYNXMPEA7P0QM" style="display: block; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; width: 580px;" /></h1> <div class="relatedPhoto landscape" id="articleImage" style="clear: left !important; margin: 0px 0px 10px; position: relative; width: 580px;"> <div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: 0px; clear: both; display: block !important; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 590px; z-index: 2;"> <div class="rolloverBg" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; background-image: none; clear: both; display: block; float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 610px !important;"> <div class="captionText" style="color: #494949; font-size: 11px; height: 60px; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, 2014.</div> <div class="credit" style="color: #a1a1a1; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"> CREDIT: REUTERS/STRINGER</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="relatedRai" id="relatedInlineVideo"> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; font-size: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; font-size: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; 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margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <h3 style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: medium; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;"> RELATED TOPICS</h3> </div> <div class="moduleBody" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <ul style="clear: both; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; width: 140px;"> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-size: 11px !important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/world" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 13px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">World »</a></li> <li style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: dotted; border-top-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-size: 11px !important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 13px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria »</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; font-size: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> <div id="thirdPartyLinkbackNews"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" id="relatedInteractive" style="display: inline; float: left; font-size: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <div class="columnLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-right: 35px;"> <div class="relatedRail gridPanel grid2" style="display: inline; float: left; font-size: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 140px;"> </div> </div> <span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"></span><span class="focusParagraph"><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Reuters) - As Islamic State militants advanced in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zor last month, those who had held out against them faced a simple choice: beg for mercy or face certain death.</div> </span><span id="midArticle_0"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Their options were laid out in stark religious terms by the militant Islamists who are trying to carve out their own state in <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span> and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iraq?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Iraq</a></span>. Defeated fighters were required to "atone" or die, a choice set out in Islamic terms and implying that resisting Islamic State rule amounted to a sin against God.</div> <span id="midArticle_1"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "I surrendered my weapons," said a rebel fighter who capitulated to Islamic State on July 2 and has been living in fear for his life ever since. He still believes Islamic State could execute him at any moment. "Everyone is subject to this. Everyone is afraid," he said, speaking via internet link.</div> <span id="midArticle_2"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> In cementing its control over the oil-producing province of Deir al-Zor, Islamic State has unleashed one of its bloodiest waves of repression to date, employing mass executions, threats and house demolitions as the attention of Western states has focused on rolling back the group in neighboring <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iraq?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Iraq</a></span>.</div> <span id="midArticle_3"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> While some have been granted a pardon on Islamic State's terms that require complete allegiance, others have been shown no mercy. One tribe in particular has been singled out for persecution.</div> <span id="midArticle_4"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Hundreds of members of the Sheitaat clan have been executed after their tribe refused to submit to Islamic State. The entire tribe have been deemed "hostile apostates" by the group, an offshoot of al Qaeda that has declared a "caliphate" in the territory it holds.</div> <span id="midArticle_5"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Their killings are a reminder, say locals, that many of Islamic State's victims are not minority Shi'ites, Yazidis or Christians, but Sunnis who - nominally at least - follow the same denomination of Islam.</div> <span id="midArticle_6"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> As Islamic State's advances in Iraq have sent minorities fleeing for fear of execution or forced conversion to Islam, the group's radical interpretation of the religion has, in the case of the Sheitaat, laid grounds for mass persecution of Sunnis.</div> <span id="midArticle_7"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_8"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> INFIDELS</div> <span id="midArticle_9"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Islamic State has declared the Sheitaat tribe "an unbelieving sect" that should be fought as if they were infidels, according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the Syrian war.</div> <span id="midArticle_10"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> At least 700 hundred members of the tribe have already been executed, the Observatory reported on Aug. 16.</div> <span id="midArticle_11"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Another 1,800 are still missing after being detained by Islamic State, according to the Observatory, which gathers information from all sides in the Syrian war. Its efforts to pledge allegiance to Islamic State have been rebuffed.</div> <span id="midArticle_12"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Pictures of the bodies of men apparently slain by Islamic State fighters in Sheitaat areas are surfacing every day, said Rami Abdelrahman, founder of the Observatory. "We have repeatedly expressed concerns about extermination," he said.</div> <span id="midArticle_13"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "It is the first time that the Islamic State has used these (religious) concepts against an entire tribe," he said.</div> <span id="midArticle_14"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> It has provided a convenient religious tool for crushing a tribe that until recently controlled several oil fields in Deir al-Zor, according to a source familiar with the conflict. That revenue stream is now fully in the hands of Islamic State.</div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> The treatment of the Sheitaat has served as a powerful deterrent to further rebellion in Deir al-Zor, a province bordering Iraq in the east mostly inhabited by Sunni Arabs many of whom are members of tribes that span the border into Iraq.</div> <span id="midArticle_0"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Besides the Sheitaat tribe, thought to number about 150,000 people, the Islamic State has accepted the surrender of other influential clans in the area which have publicly capitulated to the group.</div> <span id="midArticle_1"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> It was in early July that Islamic State, boosted by territorial gains in Iraq, staged a rapid advance in the province, securing a corridor of Syrian territory along the Euphrates river all the way to the Iraqi border.</div> <span id="midArticle_2"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_3"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> RAMADAN</div> <span id="midArticle_4"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "I will never forget that day," said the rebel, describing how Islamic State fighters seized the town of Shuhail, 40 km (25 miles) southeast of Deir al-Zor city, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.</div> <span id="midArticle_5"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "People were about to break their fast when Islamic State launched its attack," said the rebel, who has spoken to Reuters regularly over the past year or so.</div> <span id="midArticle_6"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> He spoke to Reuters via online link from inside his car, which he had parked in front of an internet cafe to connect to the Wifi signal. The Islamic State had confiscated his personal modem.</div> <span id="midArticle_7"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "Islamic State is carrying out a detailed survey of all the men. They are recording full names, and marking the ones who fought them, like me, with detailed information about which weapons I used and which battles I fought.</div> <span id="midArticle_8"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "We don't know the purpose of this survey. Are they going to forcefully enlist us in their ranks? Are they going to keep an eye on us for their security? Are they going to seize our property like they’re already doing?" he asked.</div> <span id="midArticle_9"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">     The rebel, whose name was withheld for security reasons, was a fighter in a group linked to the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella organization for Western-backed rebels who have largely faded from the scene as better armed Islamist groups have prevailed.</div> <span id="midArticle_10"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> The Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in the Syrian civil war, also took part in the effort to repel Islamic State's advance in Deir al-Zor. It has now abandoned an area that was once a stronghold, having refused to capitulate.</div> <span id="midArticle_11"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">     Sensing defeat was at hand, weaker rebel battalions called in a mediator to tell Islamic State they were ready for a truce and were even prepared to pledge allegiance to the group.</div> <span id="midArticle_12"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "We all knew that if this battle continued all night, it would be the end of us all - our town, our families," said the rebel, speaking of the night during Ramadan.</div> <span id="midArticle_13"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Islamic State spared rebel fighters and local clan elders who surrendered in Shuhail. But they also made the town's 35,000 residents leave for eight days with the stated aim of searching homes and securing the area.</div> <span id="midArticle_14"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">     "We had no choice. All of us, we left the city: elderly, babies, civilians, fighters, everyone," the rebel fighter said.</div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">     Some stayed with relatives in nearby villages, while others slept in the desert for a week, enduring the harsh summer heat.</div> <span id="midArticle_0"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "I've atoned, but I don't support them," added the rebel.</div> <span id="midArticle_1"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_2"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> ABANDONED HOMES</div> <span id="midArticle_3"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> But for the Sheitaat clan, there has been no mercy.</div> <span id="midArticle_4"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Three Sheitaat villages seized by Islamic State have been designated as a military zone, the rebel and another activist from the area said. The clan's property and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/commodities/livestock?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">livestock</a></span> have also been seized, another person from the area said.</div> <span id="midArticle_5"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Islamic State has declared that no truce is possible with the Sheitaat, that its prisoners can be killed, and its women are unfit for marriage, according to the Observatory.</div> <span id="midArticle_6"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "We're still seeing Islamic State trucks loaded up with furniture and rugs from Sheitaat homes in those villages, which are now totally abandoned," said one person from the area contacted by internet link, speaking on condition of anonymity.</div> <span id="midArticle_7"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Islamic State has started to use house demolitions as a punishment. A video posted over the weekend shows what appears to be the detonation of a rural home as the narrator, who identifies himself as from Islamic State, explains that the home belongs to Sheitaat "apostates". </div> <span id="midArticle_8"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "This is a warning to all clans to capitulate and acquiesce into obedience of Islamic State," he says.</div> <span id="midArticle_9"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Other Deir al-Zor tribes have issued a plea to Islamic State to spare the Sheitaat. Clan and tribal elders from other groups appeared in a video posted on Sunday appealing to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to pardon them.</div> <span id="midArticle_10"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "We ask that you extend forgiveness to the people of Sheitaat, who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State ... and your forgiveness will facilitate a new phase," said one of the leaders, dressed in traditional tribal robes.</div> <span id="midArticle_11"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> Alluding to the possible expansion of U.S. air strikes on Islamic State into <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span>, he says that "the Crusader enemy is preparing to hit the Sunni areas that fall under the rule of Islamic State".</div> <span id="midArticle_12"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> "So let's be one hand together against those hostile to God’s religion."</div> <span id="midArticle_13"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> <span id="midArticle_14"></span><div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> (Reporting by Beirut bureau; Editing by Tom Perry/Sylvia Westall/Giles Elgood)</div> <span id="midArticle_15"></span></span><div class="relatedTopicButtons"> <div class="file_under" style="color: #ff8000; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 28px; margin-right: 5px;"> FILED UNDER:</div> <div class="actionButton" style="background-image: none !important; background-position: initial initial !important; background-repeat: initial initial !important; 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If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/</a></div> <div class="articleComments" style="margin-bottom: 20px;"> <a href="" name="comments" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;"></a><div class="commentsHeader" style="background-color: #f3f3f3; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: left; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 10px 0px 18px; padding: 10px 7px; text-transform: none !important; width: 610px;"> Comments (16)</div> <div class="singleComment" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/dotsHorizontal.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; margin: 8px 0px 0px;"> <div class="commentAuthor" style="font-size: 13px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/profile/DavidPun" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">DavidPun</a> wrote:</div> <div class="commentsBody" p="" style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2;"> I am disgusted at the naivete of our US leaders, both militarily and politically. We should have learned by now that the concept of extending Western Democracy into countries like Iraq and Libya is a complete and total joke. The people in these countries have demonstrated no ability to exist in a democratic society. These countries require a “strong man” leader to keep them stable and under control and more importantly to keep control over radical groups like ISIS. This is essentially true in Syria. We don’t like Assad. I understand that. But we didn’t like Stalin in WWII, but Hitler was by far the greater threat at the time. The ourageously inept foreign policy of the US has done nothing in Syria other than weaken Assad and make it more difficult for him to eradicate the ISIS threat. At this point in time we need to implement the policy that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and team with Assad and allow him to deal with ISIS. There is no doubt that he would exterminate ISIS totally. Assad is not our enemy. He may differ from us ideologically, but Syria cannot exist as a democracy….it is simply not possible. We need to support the leader who can impose the most effective control over the country and then pressure him to moderate how he deals with dissent among his own citizens.<br />The only alternative is that ISIS will establish an Islamic Caliphate.<div style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> </div> <div class="timestamp" style="color: #999999; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> Aug 26, 2014 11:21am EDT  --  <a href="" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Report as abuse</a></div> </div> <div class="singleComment" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/dotsHorizontal.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; margin: 8px 0px 0px;"> <div class="commentAuthor" style="font-size: 13px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/profile/TexPatriot" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">TexPatriot</a> wrote:</div> <div class="commentsBody" p="" style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2;"> First they came for the Sheitaats, and I did not speak out<br />Because I was not a Sheitaat.<div style="color: black; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"> </div> </div> <div class="timestamp" style="color: #999999; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> Aug 26, 2014 11:35am EDT  --  <a href="" style="color: #006e97; cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Report as abuse</a></div> </div> <div class="singleComment" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources_v2/images/dotsHorizontal.gif); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; margin: 8px 0px 0px;"> <div class="commentAuthor" style="font-size: 13px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;"> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/profile/Pllc15" style="color: black; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Pllc15</a> wrote:</div> <div class="commentsBody" p="" style="color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2;"> In the long term, I believe ISIS will self-destruct into multiple sects when Arab and Muslim cultures have the tendency to engage in internecine warfare before they even attempt at establishing some semblance of unity which has been a pipe dream of theirs since the 7th Century. They won’t have time to sustain their holy war against the West when they are fighting each other.</div> </div> </div> <div> <div class="linebreak" style="clear: both; float: none; font-size: 1px; height: 1px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; width: 610px;"> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Islamic State turns radical Islam on Syria Muslims

Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS...

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