Local Editor

As the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's" brutalities continue to be uncovered with time, the terrorists chose to hit a new and shocking low: It's crucifying people.

Two men were reportedly crucified in Raqqa on Tuesday, their bloody corpses displayed in the center of a town controlled by the most severe of Syria's terrorists.
Below the photo of a crucified body, the message on a terrorist Twitter account reads, "We just executed 7 spies trying to plant bombs on cars of the ikhwa. Massive turnout."

One of the earliest mentions of the crucifixions in Raqqa came from Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a student at Oxford University and a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Al-Tamimi reported the executions and posted a photo of one of the crucified men 4 minutes before the tweet from the self-identified ISIL account.

The dead man in the photo hangs limply from a makeshift crucifix; blood stains the wooden plank to which his outstretched arms are bound. The black stripe of a blindfold covers his eyes. A young boy stands feet from the strung-up body, at the front of a crowd gathered around the cross.
Another photo of a different man's crucifixion shows a similar scene. In that image too, a young boy stands only feet from a lifeless corpse bound to a cross and publicly displayed.

Meanwhile, the founder of a group called "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered," Abu Ibrahim al-Rquaoui, unveiled that he was present at the crucifixions when they occurred and took the photos.
Images of the crucifixion have been spreading over social media since Tuesday morning, pushed out both by anti-ISIL accounts to show the group's brutality, and by proud members of ISIL who view the public crucifixions as a sign of their strength and an effective recruiting tool.

The executions reported to have taken place on Tuesday were not the first crucifixions carried out by ISIL since it took control of Raqqa. They were only the first after this year's Easter celebration. Last month, the group publicly crucified an accused thief.

In another war crime, a video has emerged showing British militants killing a prisoner in Syria which was posted on a UK man's Instagram account, as researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization uncovered on Thursday.




Footage uncovered by researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization [ICSR] shows British terrorists executing a prisoner, said to be a loyalist of President Bashar al-Assad.
The incident is thought to have happened in the last two weeks, near Raqqa in northern Syria, Sky news reported.
The footage was posted on the Instagram account of a man believed to be from London.
The caption accompanying the video describes the prisoner as one of 'Bashar [al-Assad's] dogs' and says the execution was retribution for the deaths of four fellow militants.
The ICSR monitors the social media accounts of hundreds of foreign militants inside Syria.
They believe the man that posted the video is part of a group of British terrorists, known as Rahat al- Tawheed, an affiliate of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL].

"The execution of prisoners is a war crime in international law...it's incredibly serious" said Shiraz Maher, a senior ICSR researcher based at Kings College London.
"We believe the main characters involved with Rahat al Tawheed come from London," he said.
"We have deduced this based on our discussions with foreign fighters, our extensive record-keeping of foreign fighter activity in Syria, and our maintenance of social network maps which allows us to plot activity and associations in a visual form", Maher added.

Although no audible English is spoken in the execution video itself, analysts from the ICSR believe they have identified one of the gunmen as being a British citizen.
A man is seen in the video firing shots into the body of the prisoner in the seconds after the initial bullet was fired by the main executioner.

Analysis of the gunman's physical build, wrist watch and balaclava led the ICSR to conclude he is the same man seen speaking English with a London accent in other videos posted by the group.
"We don't know if the prisoner was alive or dead when he fired, but he did partake in the execution, he did fire shots at the individual from his weapon, and we believe he is a British citizen," said ICSR researcher, Joseph Carter.

On two separate videos posted on YouTube, the man identified as the gunman by the ICSR is heard berating the British Muslim community for failing to provide sufficient financial support for the war, or the families the fighters have left behind.
The Government's counter-terrorism program recently launched a campaign urging the families of young men planning to travel to Syria to intervene.
It is estimated that up to 400 Britons have travelled to fight or train in Syria in the last two years.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team