ISIS seizes Syria army base, executes 50+ soldiers, cuts heads off, kills nearly 100 (PHOTOS)

| WTF News |

The proxy war in Syria continues to escalate as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS, expands its reach and control. Islamic State fighters overran a Syrian army base in the northern province of Raqa, killing dozens of troops, beheading some 50+ of them, according to the monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The news comes as it is estimated that there are nearly 12,000 foreign fighters in Syria. Government forces have battled back against the foreign terrorists plaguing the country as they have recaptured the Al-Shaar gas field seized by IS last week.

AFP

The jihadist takeover of the base of Division 17 came as the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said IS fighters accused of atrocities would be added to a list of war crimes indictees.

In the two-day assault on the base in Raqa province, an IS bastion, the jihadists killed at least 85 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

More than 50 troops were summarily executed, 19 others were killed in a double suicide bombing and at least 16 more died in the assault launched early Thursday

Hundreds of troops “withdrew on Friday to safe places — either to nearby villages whose residents oppose IS or to nearby Brigade 93 — but the fate of some 200 remains unknown,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

“Some of the executed troops were beheaded, and their bodies and severed heads put on display in Raqa city,” an IS stronghold, he told AFP.

Video taken by jihadists and distributed on YouTube showed IS fighters apparently inside Division 17 living quarters burning a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The jihadists also posted photographs online of the bodies of decapitated soldiers strewn across the ground.

- Headless bodies -

In one, six bloodied heads were lined up together on the ground, and other pictures showed headless bodies, mostly wearing combat fatigues.

The problem is getting worse and threatens to fracture two countries. Here is an update from BBC on various positions.

The main goal of ISIS?

Abdel Rahman said IS intended the display as “a message to the people of Raqa, to tell them it is strong, that it isn’t going anywhere, and to terrify” opponents.

“For IS, fighting the regime is not about bringing down Assad. It is about expanding its control,” said Abdel Rahman.

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