IS executes 12 militants for attempting to flee Raqqa: Report

The Islamic State (IS) group publicly executed a dozen militants for attempting to desert their posts in the Syrian province of Raqqa, according to activist reports.

“The Islamic State’s military leadership has publicly beheaded 12 of its own militants for evacuating their posts at the battlefront in eastern Syria without permission,” a Raqqa-based media activist, Abu Ibrahim al-Raqawi, told Kurdish news agency ARA News.

“The militants were executed on Tuesday evening in front of hundreds of people in central Raqqa,” the source said. 

There have been frequent reports that IS has executed militants and civilians for attempting to flee its territory in Syria and Iraq, or for alleged spying.

IS is facing growing pressure from the US-led coalition forces and the Iraqi military in its self-declared capital in Mosul, and in Syria from Kurdish YPG forces and the Turkish offensive that began on 24 August.

Iraqi forces are gearing up for an offensive to retake Mosul, while in northern Syria IS recently retreated from the border town of Jarabulus, which was taken by Turkish forces.

Last week IS released a video reportedly shot in Deir Ezzor, where a fierce battle has raged with Syrian army troops, in which it showed the brutal killing of 15 civilians, including children.

The video was removed several times from social media, but was reported to show executions as “sacrifices” for the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday.

In March, ARA News reported that IS publicly executed eight Dutch nationals, who had joined the group in 2015, for expressing opposition.

IS’s “sharia court” ordered the execution of the foreign militants in public.

The militants were arrested at a checkpoint while trying to escape Raqqa, ARA reported.

“After interrogations, they were convicted of high treason for attempting dissidence,” Sarwat Abdullah, a media activist in Raqqa, told ARA News at the time.