A video has surfaced online appearing to show a woman being stoned to death by Islamic State militants.

The disturbing video records the tragic moment a woman accused of adultery is asked to accept her fate before being led to a shallow hole in the ground, where she is stoned by a group of men, including one said to be her father.

He is seen in the video disregarding her pleas for forgiveness. In the background, the black flag of the Islamic State can be seen.

In the harrowing moment before the men start to pelt her with heavy stones, the woman prays aloud.

The WorldPost said the video was being circulated online by Syrian activists but that it had not been able to verify its authenticity. It also reported that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was not able to verify the date of the video.

It appeared online on Monday night when it was posted to the Twitter page of an activist group called "Raqqa is being slaughtered silently".

The Islamic State has swept across large parts of Syria and Iraq, imposing strict sharia law wherever it has taken ground and carrying out brutal punishments on those who do not comply.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that IS militants are gaining support among Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community who have tired of the Lebanese army coming under attack from Syrian rebels.

The Wall Street Journal says IS are eyeing the northern city of Tripoli, which sits on Lebanon's Mediterranean coast.
The Lebanese army's Brig. Gen. Ali Kanso was confident they could hold off the militants in comments to the newspaper.

"The ideas of [IS] are not accepted by the people in Tripoli," he said. "Our people are sophisticated and educated. Who can approve of decapitations and selling women to slavery in the 21st century?"

Although IS has not managed to take hold of any territory in Lebanon, the Associated Press reports they are making almost daily incursions from positions along the country's eastern border.

In the last few weeks, fierce battles have been raging for control of the Syrian border town of Kobani and Iraq's Anbar province, all that stands between IS and Baghdad.