In the past six months, the Islamic State has killed 1,878 people in Syria, mostly civilians, a British-based Syrian monitoring organization revealed in its report, adding that the "real number killed by ISIS is higher."
As many as 1,175 civilians, 930 of whom are from al- Shaitaat
tribe in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, were executed by
beheading, shooting or stoning. These included four children and
eight women in the provinces of Deir Ezzor, al- Raqqa, al-
Hasakah, Aleppo, Homs and Hama, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) also put to death
120 of its own members, most of them killed during attempts to
return home, for “exceeding the limits in religion.” Over 500
officers and soldiers of the regime forces, who were arrested
during clashes between the IS and the regime forces, also came to
be executed.
The rights group meanwhile notes that the real number of people
that had been killed by the IS is higher than the number
documented because "there are hundreds of missing and
detainees inside the IS jails, loss of communication with about a
thousand men of al-Shaitaat tribe, as well as because there are
dozens of Kurds who have still been missing since the beginning
of [the] IS attack on the countryside of Ayn al-Arab [aka]
‘Kobani’ in September 16."
The militant group has taken control of vast parts of Iraq and
Syria and declared a caliphate in June. Since then it has fought
against the Syrian and Iraqi governments, as well as Kurdish
forces.
ISIS, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, made blood run cold when it began
to release shocking videos of executions of captured enemy
fighters, activists and journalists. Earlier this year the group
beheaded two American journalists, as well as one American and
two British aid workers, to demotivate the US-led international
coalition, which has been bombing fighters in Syria since
September.
READ MORE: 100 foreign fighters executed by ISIS for trying to quit - report
Last month the UN released a report based on over 300 interviews
with men, women and children who have fled or are still living in
IS-controlled areas. The report confirmed that the militant group
actually "prioritizes children as a vehicle for ensuring
long-term loyalty, adherence to their ideology, and a cadre of
devoted fighters that will see violence as a way of life.”
Last week a 14-year-old Syrian boy wearing a vest full of
explosives decided to turn himself in to Iraqi guards. The
teenager, who was recruited by the Islamic State and forced to
convert to radical Shiite-hating beliefs, said that a mission to
bomb a Shiite mosque was his only chance to escape militants.
Meanwhile, volunteers wanting to join the Islamic State have been
coming to the region from all over the world. According to the
Soufan Group and the International Centre for the Study of
Radicalization, the total number of foreign fighters in Syria
currently stands between 11,000 and 12,000, with about 3,000 of
them from the West.
France, Germany and the UK are said to account for the largest
number of citizens fighting with militants in Syria. This
includes those not with the IS, but who are also battling against
the forces of President Bashar Assad.