ISIS Reportedly Executes 700 Members of Syrian Tribe in Deir Ezzor

Al Jazeera writes that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has reportedly executed 700 members of the Sheitaat tribe in Deir Ezzor province. (The figure was released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Western-backed monitoring group, and could not be independently verified.)

Last week, Sheik Rafaa Aakla al-Raju, leader of the tribe – one of eastern Syria’s most powerful – called for other tribes to join the fight against ISIS.

“We appeal to the other tribes to stand by us because it will be their turn next … If [ISIS] are done with us the other tribes will be targeted after al-Sheitaat. They are the next target,” he said. The tribe had previously agreed not to oppose the Sunni militants as they storm Deir Ezzor, in exchange for it not attacking its members.

Kurdish Militants Train Hundreds of Yazidis to Fight ISIS

Reuters reports that Kurdish militants “have trained hundreds of Yazidi volunteers at several camps inside Syria to fight [ISIS] forces in Iraq.”

A wire photographer who visited a training camp at Serimli military base in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Qamishli, where he saw 55 Yazidis being trained to fight the extremist group.

“Dressed in green military fatigues, young and old men were taught how to use assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades by the Syrian Kurds, sweating in the 40 degree Celsius heat. ‘The Yazidi civilians want to stay in Syria because it is safer but the volunteers really want to go back to Iraq to fight,’” he told his desk by phone.

The wire adds: “Thousands of Yazidis have also been trapped in searing heat on the mountain near the Syrian border. They fled there this month to escape [ISIS], who deem Yazidis ‘devil worshippers.’”

Turkey Calls for Help with Syria Refugees as Tensions Rise

In the wake of anti-Syrian violence in southern Turkey, AFP reports that the country, which shelters more than 1 million registered and unregistered Syrian refugees, has called for financial help from the international community.

“Turkey’s relief agency said Friday that it was time for the world to start ‘sharing the burden’ of the 1.2 million Syrian refugees it is hosting, after tensions between Turks and refugees again turned violent,” the wire says. The clashes “were sparked by the fatal stabbing earlier this week of a Turkish landlord, allegedly by his Syrian tenant, and led to a major exodus of refugees from the city.

“Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled their country’s civil war to neighboring Turkey in the last three years after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, now president-elect, announced an open-door policy.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team

AFP: Rebels Caught in North Syria Two-Pronged Onslaught

Guardian: ISIS: A Portrait of a Menace that is Sweeping my Homeland