Sunday Times 2
Jihadists murder Briton, battle for Kurdish town
View(s):LONDON, Oct 4 (AFP) -Islamic State jihadists mounted brutal offensives on both the Syrian battlefield and in their online propaganda war Friday, murdering a British hostage and attempting to storm a key border town.
In a video released by the group in response to US-led air strikes against it, a masked IS fighter beheads British driver Alan Henning and threatens a US captive, aid worker Peter Kassig.
An undated family handout photo of British aid worker Alan Henning taken at a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syria border. Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on October 3, which purported to show the beheading of a man identified as British citizen Alan Henning (Reuters )
The footage, almost identical to three previous execution films released by the group, inspired revulsion around the world and drew a stark warning from Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron.
“We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice,” he said, declaring that the apparent murder “shows just how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are.” US President Barack Obama condemned the “brutal murder” and warned that the US-led coalition “will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy” IS.
The UN Security Council said the video serves as a “tragic reminder of the increasing dangers volunteer humanitarian personnel face every day in Syria.”
The IS video, found online by US-based private monitor SITE, opens with a news report about the British parliament’s vote last week to authorize air strikes against jihadist targets in Iraq.
Then it cuts to Henning, on his knees against a desert backdrop and wearing an orange prison-style outfit, with a masked militant standing over him wielding a combat knife.
Henning, a 47-year-old volunteer driver who went to Syria with a Muslim charity, explains to the camera that, as a member of the British public, he is being made to pay for the parliamentary vote.
Then the jihadist, who has the same British accent as the killer in previous IS execution videos, directly addresses Cameron.
“The blood of David Haines was on your hands, Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered, but his blood is on the hands of the British parliament,” he declares, then cuts the hostage’s throat.
Kassig, a former US army soldier and Iraq veteran in his twenties who returned to the Middle East to found an aid agency, is then shown alive and threatened by the knife-wielding militant.
“Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment in Sham, which keeps on striking our people,” the militant says, using the Arabic term for Syria and the Levant.
“So it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people.” The jihadists have previously released videos showing the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and of British aid worker David Haines.
| Syria’s Assad makes rare public appearance at Eid prayers DAMASCUS, Oct 4 (AFP) -Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance today, attending prayers on the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday at a mosque in Damascus, state media said. State media and Assad’s official Twitter feed posted photos of the embattled president praying alongside the country’s top cleric and members of his government. “President Bashar al-Assad leads Eid al-Adha prayers at the Nuaman bin Bashir mosque in Damascus,” state news agency SANA said. “Eid is associated with happiness in the life of the Muslim nation,” he said. “But Eid has not entered our homes because the West and its Arab collaborators decided to make our country a battlefield… and implement interests and agendas,” he said. Syria’s government has long accused Western and Arab backers of the uprising against Assad of supporting “terrorism” and trying to destroy the country. “We pledge to God almighty to protect our country from a great conspiracy that targets its role and presence and resilience,” he said. “We pledge to keep the country from being turned into a war zone, torn apart and divided,” he said, referring to “plans drawn up at the White House and carried out today in north and east Syria.” The comments appeared to be a reference to strikes by a US-led coalition against the jihadist Islamic State group, which has strongholds in the north and east of the country. More than 180,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the uprising against Assad in March 2011. The country’s conflict began with anti-government demonstrations, but spiralled into a vicious civil war after the regime opened fire on protesters. |