ISIS executes 19-year-old Syrian by running him over with a tank
A 19-year-old Syrian was brutally executed by ISIS militants who crushed him to death with a tank, according to a new video released by the jihadist group.
The video depicts a young Syrian solider, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, being driven over by the vehicle. Before his execution, he is forced to confess to driving over the bodies of jihadis himself with a tank, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
An ISIS fighter dressed in white explains that the execution was a punishment.
"This apostate dirty Nusayri ran over our brothers who were dead in a tank so it was decided that he will be run over by the tank while he is alive," said the ISIS fighter.
The captive then reveals that his name is Fadi Ammar Zidan.
Horrific screenshots showing the crushed and disfigured remains of the soldier after his execution were shown by AhlulBayt News Agency. Islamic State militants can be seen cheering in the background.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British based organisation which monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said it received information last month that ISIS would start to execute soldiers in this manner. However this is the first of its kind to be known to have taken place.
The execution follows the beheading of a Sudanese Christian by ISIS in Libya earlier this month.
The video's release also comes soon after a major raid by US and Kurdish forces on a prison in Iraq freed 70 hostages held by ISIS. Helmet footage released yesterday showed the raid on the ISIS controlled prison 9 miles west of the city of Kirkuk.
One US soldier was killed in the operation. US army master sergeant Joshua Wheeler, 39, was the first American to die in combat as part of the US Operation Inherent Resolve.