The Islamic State Kills Over 2,000 off the Battlefield in Syria Since June

Since the establishment of its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq in June last year, Islamic State militants have killed at least 2,000 people off the battlefield in Syria alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Using a variety of methods – including beheading, stoning and shooting – the extremist group has executed at least 2,154 people in Syria, the Observatory said, urging the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

“We continue in our calls to the U.N. Security Council for urgent action to stop the ongoing murder against the sons of the Syrian people despite the deafness of members to the screams of pain of the Syrian people,” the Observatory said in a statement.

The Islamic State governs large swathes of territory inside Syria and Iraq and has set up its own courts to administer what it describes as Islamic law before the group carries out the killings.

“Charges have ranged from insulting God (blasphemy), spying for the benefit of the Nusayri [Alawite] regime, sodomy and dealing with and supporting YPG [Kurdish forces],” the Observatory reported in a statement.

However, the Observatory believes the number of executions to be higher than the documented toll as hundreds of people are still missing.

“We believe that the real number of people that have been killed by IS is higher than the number documented by SOHR because there are hundreds of missing and detainees inside IS jails, and because there are dozens of Kurds who are still missing since the beginning of IS attacks on the countryside of Kobani on September 16,” SOHR said.

“One of the worst massacres was against the Sunni Muslim Sheitaat tribe, which had been battling Islamic State in eastern Syria. Islamic State has killed at least 930 Sheitaat tribespeople,” Reuters reports.

Syria Accuses Turkey of Direct Aggression Alongside Militants Who Captured Idlib

Syria has accused Turkey of providing support to enable “terrorist groups” to capture the Syrian city of Idlib and the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour, Reuters reports.

“The terrorist groups’ attacks on Idlib city and Jisr al-Shughour … were carried out by logistical and fire support from the Turkish army,” Syrian television quoted the foreign ministry as saying. “This is direct Turkish aggression on Syria.”

Syria has long accused Turkey of assisting opposition fighters in their battle to oust the regime and allowing thousands of foreign fighters to enter Syria through its borders. It regularly describes political opposition and jihadist groups as “terrorists.”

Turkey, a vocal critic of the Assad regime, has taken in nearly two million refugees from Syria, but has struggled to stem the flow of foreign jihadists through its porous 560-mile border with Syria.

The fall of Jisr al-Shughour was the latest in a string of defeats for Assad’s forces in Idlib province, most of which is now under opposition control, giving the insurgents a strong foothold to gain ground against regime forces elsewhere in the country.

The insurgents have been trying to push government forces out of the regime’s few remaining bases in Idlib province, putting the insurgents closer to the neighboring provinces of Latakia and Hama, the strongholds of President Assad.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and allied groups who captured Jisr al-Shughour have seized 100 soldiers and pro-regime militants and their families since Saturday.

Elsewhere in the country, two mortar rounds fired from Syria struck open areas of the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights on Tuesday, AFP reports.

“Two mortar shells fell in the northern sector of the Golan Heights,” the source told AFP, describing it as the result of stray fire from fighting inside Syria and saying it had caused no casualties or damage.

The mortar fire came just two days after Israeli armed forces said they had carried out an airstrike on the country’s border with Syria after spotting four people trying to plant bombs near the Israeli-held Golan Heights.

Israel has conducted several airstrikes on Syria since 2011, mostly destroying weaponry it believed was destined for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

Recommended Reads

• Reuters: Islamic State Has Killed Over 2,000 off Battlefield Since June
• The New York Times: An Eroding Syrian Army Points to Strain
• Associated Press: E.U. Official Says Iran Could Play Major Role in Syria Talks
• BBC: Syrian Dissident Louay Hussein Flees to Spain

Photo Courtesy of AP Images