IS kills 2001 Syrian civilians in 18 months ---Rights group
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State
jihadist group has executed 2001 civilians as well as 420 of its own members in
Syria since declaring its Caliphate 18 months ago.
It said on Tuesday in London that among the dead civilians
were some 930 members of the Shuaitat tribe, who rose up against the jihadist
organisation in 2014 after it captured their homeland in eastern Syria.
Human rights said the jihadist group has executed 420 of its
own members, mainly foreign fighters, on charges of spying for foreign
countries or because they were trying to escape and return home.
The observatory said victims of Islamic State's executions
in Syria also included over 1000 government troops and loyalist militiamen as well
as 253 rebel fighters and rival jihadists.
It recalled that on June 29, 2014, weeks after capturing
swathes of neighbouring Iraq in a lightning offensive, the organisation
declared its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi caliph and said he was entitled to the
allegiance of all Muslims worldwide.
The observatory said the group has deliberately cultivated a
reputation for brutality with graphic videos showing executions of its
prisoners.
It said this was in an apparent effort to gain media
attention and deter any opposition to its rule.
Islamic State has its origins in the Iraqi branch of
al-Qaeda, but it split with the older jihadist organisation when Islamic State
sought to subsume its Syrian front organisation, the al-Nusra Front, in 2013.
Al-Nusra's leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jaulani, resisted the
move and his organisation continues to fight alongside other rebels against the
government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Islamic State, by contrast, was fighting for territory
against Syrian rebels as well as Kurdish and government forces in both Iraq and
Syria.
The U.S. has formed an international coalition targeting the
group with air strikes as well as measures aimed at cutting its financial and
arms supplies.
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