LATEST: Confirmed — 100s of Liwa al-Tawhid Fighters Join Free Syrian Army for Aleppo Fight v. Islamic State
UPDATE 1745 GMT: President Obama has denounced the Islamic State’s killing of James Foley: “No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and every single day.”
In brief remarks from his vacation in Massachusetts, Obama said that the jihadist organization “has no place in the 21st century”, calling on allies to help defeat a “cancer so it does not spread”.
UPDATE 1615 GMT: Demonstrators in Kafranbel in northwest Syria, known for their protest banners, pay tribute to James Foley — “Humanity is proud of him”:
Taking revenge for US military intervention in Iraq, the Islamic State says it executed journalist James Foley (pictured) on Tuesday, and it has threatened to kill journalist Stephen Sotloff if President Obama does not change American policy.
Last night the jihadists uploaded a graphic video, “A Message to America”, which opened with a subtitled warning under an Obama speech — “We await your next move in Iraq” — and then showed the beheading of Foley, abducted in Syria in November 2012 as he was working for the Global Post.
Standing next to a fighter with a knife, Foley said Washingt “signed my death certificate” with the attacks in Iraq, which have checked the Islamic State’s advance and supported a Kurdish counter-offensive: “I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers — the U.S. government — for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacent criminality.”
The message then turned to the fighter, speaking with a British accent, with Time magazine correspondent Stephen Sotloff. who went missing in August 2013.
Another message from a site linked to the Islamic State declared, “All captured Americans will wear orange just like they dressed Muslims in Guantanamo,” the US detention center established on the island of Cuba in 2002.
The video was later removed from YouTube. The FBI said it was evaluating the contents.
The White House put out a cautious response through Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council:
We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of US citizen James Foley by ISIL. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity.
If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available.
James Foley’s full statement before his execution:
I call on my friends, family, and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government. For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.
My message to my beloved parents, save me some dignity, and don’t accept some meagre compensation, for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with their recent aerial campaign in Iraq.
I call on my brother John, who is a member of the US air force. Think about what you are doing, think about the lives you destroy, including those of your own family. I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been. Think John, who did they really kill? And did they think about me, you, our family when they made that decision?
I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people they signed my death certificate. I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again. But that ship has sailed. I guess all in all I wish I wasn’t American.
(Featured Photo by Nicole Tung/Global Post)
Confirmed: 100s of Liwa al-Tawhid Fighters Join Free Syrian Army for Aleppo Fight v. Islamic State
The Supreme Military Council has confirmed Tuesday’s EA report that hundreds of fighters from Liwa al-Tawhid, the brigade prominent for its fight in Aleppo city against the regime, have left the Islamic Front and joined the Free Syrian Army.
The Liwa al-Tawhid fighters are among 800 who have bolstered a “unified moderate force” to hold the line in northern Aleppo Province, notably the key town of Marea, against the advance of the Islamic State.
Although Liwa al-Tawhid is still formally part of the Islamic Front, the move of its fighters means it is part of the insurgency’s Operations Room for the first time.
Claims: Islamic State Steps Up Assault on Regime’s Last Base in Raqqa Province
Chatter on social media indicates the Islamic State is stepping up its attempt to overrun the regime’s last major base in Raqqa Province in northern Syria.
The attacks are said to be on the southern part of Tabqa Airbase, which has been under threat by the jihadists after they captured other regime bases in the province this summer.
Last weekend, the Syrian military carried out scores of airstrikes against Islamic State positions, including buildings in Raqqa city, to try and relieve the pressure on the base.
Claims last night said the regime was firing missiles towards Tabqa to try and hold off the attackers.
State news agency SANA continues its blackout of any reference to the battle.
