BEIRUT, Aug 5 — Islamic State in Syria has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria’s government-held city of Sweida in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said today.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by Islamic State militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians.

Suwayda24 and Sweida News Network online news outlets said images circulated by Islamic State showed Muhannad Dhouqan Abu Ammar, 19, had been executed by the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the killing of Abu Ammar, said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the July 25 attack.

The Sweida area, in southwestern Syria, is mostly inhabited by people from the Druze sect. There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and Islamic State for the hostages’ release. — Reuters </s> In this file photo taken on April 30, 2017 a member of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa

Islamic State in Syria has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria's government-held city of Sweida in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said on Sunday.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by Islamic State militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians.

Suwayda24 and Sweida News Network online news outlets said images circulated by Islamic State showed Muhannad Dhouqan Abu Ammar, 19, had been executed by the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the killing of Abu Ammar, said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the July 25 attack.

The Sweida area, in southwestern Syria, is mostly inhabited by people from the Druze sect. There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and Islamic State for the hostages' release. </s> ISIS has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria’s Sweida, home to a large community of Druze, in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said on Sunday.

ISIS killed the 19-year-old male student on Thursday after kidnapping more than 30 people, mostly women and children, from a village in Sweida during a deadly rampage last week, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first execution since the kidnappings.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by ISIS militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians, Reuters reported.

SOHR said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the attack.

There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and ISIS for the hostages’ release. </s> IS kills one of dozens of hostages in Syria

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said Sunday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians - in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority. The jihadists also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war. On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP. Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother. His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said. Sweida, 24, posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks. </s> The Islamic State group has executed one of a number of hostages it took last month in multiple attacks on Syria’s southern province of Sweida, according to a Syrian watchdog and local media.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and news outlets report IS has circulated images showing that the group executed a young man.

The French news agency (AFP) reports that the victim’s relatives say he was abducted from his village, along with his mother.

On July 25, scores of IS militants went on a rampage, raiding homes in Sweida’s provincial capital and several villages, shooting and killing civilians and abducting women and children from their homes.

More than 200 people were killed and at least 30 people were kidnapped.

Sweida is mainly made up of members of Syria’s Druze, an ancient religious sect. They are Muslim, but IS considers them heretics. </s> BEIRUT: The IS group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said on Sunday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians — in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority. The militants also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war.

 On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan said.

 Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

 His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said.

 Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks.

 He is wearing a black T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, and his hands are tied behind his back.

 IS has not claimed the kidnappings and did not publish the video on its usual channels.

 IS militants have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria after overrunning large swathes of it in 2014, but they retain a presence in the east of the country and in the vast Badiya desert that sweeps through its south. The government has been fighting in recent weeks to expel IS fighters from a patch in the neighbouring province of Deraa.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the young man’s execution was the first since the kidnappings.

 The execution came “after the failure of talks between IS and Syrian forces over the transfer of IS fighters from the southwest of Deraa province to the Badiya” desert.

 It also follows the execution of 50 IS fighters and civilians in Deraa province earlier last week at the hands of rebels, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

 Last Friday, a top Druze religious leader said Syrian ally Russia was in talks with the IS over the release of those abducted in Sweida. Sweida24 said the oldest woman seized was 60.

 Druze, which made up three per cent of Syria’s population before 2011.

 — AFP </s> IS kills one of dozens of hostages in south Syria

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said yesterday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians – in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority.

The jihadists also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war. On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP. Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

 His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said. Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks. He is wearing a black T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, and his hands are tied behind his back. The video could not be independently verified. IS has not claimed the kidnappings and did not publish the video on its usual channels.

IS jihadists have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria after overrunning large swathes of it in 2014, but they retain a presence in the east of the country and in the vast Badiya desert that sweeps through its south. The regime has been fighting in recent weeks to expel IS fighters from a patch in the neighboring province of Daraa.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the young man’s execution was the first since the kidnappings. The execution came “after the failure of talks between IS and regime forces over the transfer of IS fighters from the southwest of Daraa province to the Badiya” desert, said the Observatory. It also follows the execution of 50 IS fighters and civilians in Daraa province earlier this week at the hands of rebels, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

On Friday, a top Druze religious leader said Syrian regime ally Russia was in talks with the jihadists over the release of those abducted in Sweida. Sweida24 said the oldest woman seized was 60. Druze, which made up three percent of Syria’s population before 2011, are considered Muslim but IS sees them as heretics.

Syria expert Khattar Abu Diab said that the events of July 25 in Sweida marked a turning point for the country’s Druze community. “For this ancestral community, the abduction of women oversteps all red lines,” he said. “Their reaction will depend on the outcome of negotiations but if all the hostages were killed” the Druze could directly intervene to expel IS from the desert, he said.

Regime forces have in recent weeks ousted IS from all of the towns and villages in the Yarmuk Basin in the northwest of Daraa province. Syria’s state media have said regime troops are pursuing the last remaining jihadists who fled to nearby valleys. In areas it has retaken from rebels and jihadists in recent years, the Russia-backed regime has sometimes negotiated to take back control of land in exchange for the transfer of fighters to other parts of Syria.

During the July 25 attack in Sweida, the jihadists abducted 36 Druze women and children from a village in Sweida’s east, the Observatory said at the time. Four women had since escaped while two had died, leaving 14 women and 16 children in IS captivity, according to the Observatory. At the time, another 17 men were unaccounted for but it was unclear if they were also kidnapped.

Local sources say the families of the abductees have been sent photos and videos of their loved ones via WhatsApp. The Sweida killing is the first such execution of a kidnapped civilian by IS since the jihadists overran the town of Al-Qaryatain in central Syria for several weeks in October last year, the Observatory said. – AFP </s> The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria's southern province of Sweida last month, a Syrian news website and a monitor said Sunday.

IS killed the 19-year-old male student on Thursday after kidnapping more than 30 people, mostly women and children, from a village in Sweida during a deadly rampage last week, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP.

Quoting relatives, Radwan said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said.

Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a rocky landscape, wearing a black T-shirt with his hands tied behind his back.

The video could not be independently verified.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first execution since the kidnappings.

On July 25, IS carried out a series of attacks in Sweida's provincial capital and several villages that killed more than 250 people, mostly civilians.

It was the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and the secretive Druze religious minority that populates it.

During the attack the jihadists abducted 36 Druze women and children from a village in Sweida's east, the Observatory said at the time.

Four women had since escaped while two had died, leaving 14 women and 16 children in IS captivity, according to the Observatory.

At the time, another 17 men were unaccounted for but it was unclear if they were also kidnapped.

On Friday, a top Druze religious leader said regime ally Russia was in talks with the jihadists over their release.

Sweida had until last week largely remained isolated from Syria's seven-year conflict.

Druze, which made up three percent of Syria's population before 2011, are considered Muslim but IS see them as heretics. </s> Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Photos of 14 terrified young girls and women kidnapped July 25 when ISIS attacked the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda and massacred at least 255 civilians there were sent to their families over the weekend. The pictures, which have gone viral, show the hostages against the backdrop of ISIS’ black and white flag. The Islamic jihadis have threatened to harm the women if the Damascus regime does not halt its offensive against the rebel-held pocket in the Yarmouk Valley near Jordan and the Golan Heights.



Thousands of Druze in the Galilee and the village of Buqata on the Golan Heights gathered over the weekend to discuss the massacre of their co-religionists in Syria. “Our hearts and our prayers today are with the Druze in Syria after the massacre of Da’ash in which more than 260 Druze were killed in cold blood, mostly women and children,” tweeted Reda Mansour, a former Israel ambassador to Brazil, and a well-known Druze poet.





In an interview with Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis research fellow Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, Abbas Abu Shaheen – a leader of the Druze in Suwayda – said that 90% of those who were killed were civilians. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 142 civilians and 113 government fighters were killed, in addition to 63 ISIS fighters. More than 200 others were reportedly injured.ISIS suicide bombers penetrated Suwayda (pop. 170,000) and sent teams of fighters in vehicles to raid Druze villages east of the city. Villagers battled with ISIS for three days. Videos online showed that some villagers rescued families who had been kidnapped.Druze fighters found in the villages they liberated from ISIS evidence of mass murder, similar in scope and to the ISIS attack on Kobani in June 2015 when 100 ISIS fighters killed mostly Kurdish women and children in eastern Syria in a raid. In the Suwayda hinterland, ISIS fighters went house to house slaughtering the inhabitants.The ISIS attack targeting Druze is the first of its kind in the seven-year-long Syrian civil war. ISIS has targeted other minorities, committing genocide against Yazidis in northern Iraq, and driving Christians from their homes in Syria and Iraq. Syria’s Druze minority has been protected, and its communities remained under regime control. Al-Qaeda in Syria, known as the Nusra front in 2015, massacred 20 Druze that year.While the ISIS attack on Suwayda was ostensibly in response to the regime’s offensive against the ISIS enclave in southern Syria, the attack against the Druze has raised questions. Some pro-regime supporters suggested that the Druze area lacked security because the regime was punishing the Druze for avoiding military service. However Druze pointed out that many families in Suwayda have men serving in the Syrian Arab Army.They faulted the government for transferring ISIS militants to the Syrian Desert in May after they surrendered their stronghold in Yarmouk near Damascus. The now destroyed and deserted neighborhood, which was once home to the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria with a population of 112,550 registered refugees in 2002, had been besieged by government forces since 2015.Another conspiracy claimed that ISIS infiltrated Suwayda by sweeping around 100 km. to the east to the desert area of desert near the US-run Tanf base on the border with Jordan. Abu Shaheen told al-Tamimi that ISIS “coordinated with the Tanf base, and entered the villages of al-Shabaki, Rami and al-Ghayda.”The competing theories suggest that the attack on Suwayda will lead to rancor between the Druze community – which demands protection – and the Syrian regime, which is focused on fighting in southern Syria and has not sent enough troops to defeat ISIS. Now both the Druze and the regime are alert to further ISIS attacks. However the kidnapping of 14 women, and the broadcasting of their photos, underscores ISIS’ continuing threat. A video posted online at the website Badia24 claimed to show one of the women pleading that Syrian President Bashar Assad halt the attack on the Yarmouk basin.
Syrian media reports that ISIL has executed one of a number of Druze hostages taken from Syria's government-held city of As-Suwayda in an attack last week.