I spoke with BBC West Midlands on Sunday morning about the Islamic State’s latest beheading of a Western hostage, the British aid worker David Haines, and how it reveals their concerns:

Listen to item from 1:04.01, with discussion from 1:05.00

This is a sign of the Islamic State’s weakness rather than their strength. The jihadists fear US aerial intervention not only in Iraq but now also in Syria.

What they’re doing is present these videos to either provoke the US into intervening all the way with ground troops, which they think would rally the population behind them, or to prevent the US and Britain from doing anything at all.