[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has issued a final ultimatum to the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) in regards to the 30+ prisoners that are held captive by the terrorist group.
According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army is not going to pay the ransom sum that the Islamic State demanded.
The source said that Syrian Army negotiators told the Islamic State that if they do release the 30+ prisoners in the coming days, they will be destroyed.
In order to pressure the Syrian military to pay the ransom, the Islamic State executed one of the kidnapped civilians from the al-Sweida Governorate on Thursday.
The Syrian Army was hoping to do a prisoner exchange with the terrorist group, especially after they captured over 200 members of the ISIS-affiliated Jaish Khaled bin Walid forces.
However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
ISIS was reportedly not interested in a prisoner exchange and demanded the Syrian Arab Army pay the ransom.
ISIS is currently trapped inside the Badiya al-Sham region of northeast al-Sweida, as they no longer have any outlet to retreat from.
ISIS video allegedly shows hostage from Syria’s Sweida before decapitation
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria's southern province of Sweida last month, a Syrian news outlet and a monitor said Sunday.
The terrorist group 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 on July 25, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first execution since the kidnappings.
Quoting relatives, Radwan said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.
Videos Of The Execution
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.
His is wearing a black T-shirt and his hands are 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, ISIS 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 ISIS 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.
| Rudaw adds: |
Regime loyalists were initially faulted for their failure to act after the first abductions. On Friday, the regime sent reinforcements to eastern parts of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported.
The UK-based Observatory reported on Sunday that a 19-year-old boy from the province was executed on Thursday. It also reported that more than 50 fighters loyal to Khalid bin Walid al-Mabie from southwest Daraa have been executed.
Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported on Saturday that Damascus is supporting the formation of four municipalities in Suwayda, and additionally local council elections on September 16.