PHOTO: Islamic State fighters with a young boy in Al Bukumal in northeast Syria

LATEST: Islamic State Video Threatens Lives of 2 Japanese Hostages

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Syria Direct reports that assassinations and airstrikes have weakened the Islamic State in the town of Al Bukumal on the Iraqi border.

Pro-opposition activists in Deir Ez Zor Province said Islamic State checkpoints and street patrols have dwindled in the town following Saturday’s bombing by the US-led coalition that killed several checkpoint guards.

The Islamic State has also suffered from the assassinations, with the opposition activists claiming that more than 30 jihadists have been killed in the last two weeks in Al Bukumal and Mayadin.

The activists say the Islamic State has alienated residents with their seizure of homes on charges of apostasy and treason, their beheadings, and detention of women for wearing improper clothing.

However, the reason for the diminished presence of the Islamic State may lie more in its military operations. The jihadists are moving troops to Anbar Province in Iraq and to other parts of Deir Ez Zor Province in fights against regime forces.

A citizen journalist wrote on Monday that the Islamic State had to bolster forces in Iraq who are under pressure:
“Five cars [of fighters] are going toward Iraq from the town and countryside of Al-Bukumal to help al-Baghdadi’s gang because they are eating shit.”


Islamic State Video Threatens Lives of 2 Japanese Hostages

The Islamic State has released a video statement threatening to kill two Japanese hostages if Tokyo does not pay a $200 million ransom.

In the 100-second film, a fighter speaking in British-accent English makes the demand for payment within three days for Kenji Goto Jogo and Huruna Yukawa.

“To the prime minister of Japan, although you are 8,500km from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade,” the fighter, believed to be the same man who has beheaded five British and Americans hostages on film since August, says.

He continues with a reference to a Japanese aid package for the Middle East, “You have proudly donated $100m to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims.”

Yukawa reportedly travelled to the Syrian city of Aleppo in spring 2014 after his wife’s death, bankruptcy, and a breakdown. Goto is freelance journalist who went to Syria in 2014.

Joanna Paraszczuk has more detail on the two men.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe demanded the immediate release of the two men.

The Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, would not say if Japan would pay the ransom: “If true, the act of threat in exchange of people’s lives is unforgivable and we feel strong indignation. We will make our utmost effort to win their release as soon as possible.”

Report: Islamic State Bans Women Under 45 From Leaving Raqqa

An education supervisor tells Syria Deeply that the Islamic State has banned women under 45 from leaving Raqqa, the largest city in Syria under jihadist control.

The supervisor says that she fears for herself and her 14-year-old daughter and that they never leave the house. She believes that the ban is to force young women to marry Islamic State fighters:

We learned about the decision in late November when women with identity cards showing their age as less than 45 years old were turned back at checkpoints. My neighbor was 10 days short of being 45, and she was sent back. Soon after we learned of the new decision, when it was publicly announced in the city. Now women under 45 are not allowed to travel anywhere.

Saying that her husband cries all the time for fear over his family, she continues:

Raqqa has become a big prison for all of us. We often don’t have water or electricity. We depend heavily on generators [for power]. We fear punishment and harassment in the street by ISIS police for both men and women. And on top of all that we can’t leave the city. We are choking….It is a slow death.