ISIS Says It Killed American Journalist in Syria

The New York Times reports that a video posted to YouTube – and later removed – purports to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Another journalist, Steven Sotloff, is shown still alive, with a warning that his life depends on the U.S. ending its aerial campaign on the militant group in northern Iraq.

“Titled ‘A Message to America,’ the video shows the journalist kneeling in a desert landscape, clad in an orange jumpsuit — an apparent reference to the uniforms worn by prisoners at the U.S. military detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,” writes Rukmini Callimachi. “Standing to his left is a masked ISIS fighter, who begins speaking in English, with what sounds like an east London accent. Pulling out a knife, he says that Mr. Foley’s execution is in retaliation for the recent American airstrikes ordered by President Obama against the extremist group in Iraq.

“‘I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers — the U.S. government — for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacent criminality,’ Mr. Foley says in the video, which was uploaded to the online account of the al-Furqan Media Foundation, according to SITE, an organization that follows jihadist groups. He ends by saying that when American soldiers began dropping bombs on Iraq this month, ‘they signed my death certificate.’”

Drought Exhausts Areas of Syria

The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that the worst seasonal drought seen in Syria in years is compounding the economic woes and food production shortages already facing the country.

“Farmers affected by the conflict, who struggle to reach their fields and feed their livestock, are already vulnerable due to previous droughts. The harsh 2007-2008 season, widely considered the worst drought in 40 years, was followed by another dry season in 2008-2009. This third consecutive year of drought had a heavy impact on farming communities in the north-east of the country in particular,” it says.

“Syria is self-sufficient in its wheat production. Farmers in the northeastern area have seen their income drop by 90 percent over the three years of 2007, 2008 and 2009, while many medium and small-scale herders lost more than 80 percent of their flocks due to lack of pasture and fodder. Unfortunately, a lack of investment and appeal funding during this period has left agricultural communities in a very weak state.”

Hezbollah Kills Top Jihadist in Syria

AFP reports that Hezbollah fighters have killed Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi, a top Syria-based ISIS member who allegedly planned attacks on Lebanon. He died in the contested Qalamoun region, near the Syria-Lebanon border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition backed monitoring group, said he was killed “by a roadside bomb planted by Hezbollah that detonated as his vehicle passed by.” Three other jihadists were killed in the blast. Manwhile, Hezbollah’s official television station, al-Manar, said an Iraqi had been killed by the Syrian army. “The Islamic State official Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi has been killed in a Syrian army operation in Qalamun,” it said. “He was in charge of preparing suicide bombers and the cars used in bomb attacks including those carried out in Lebanon.”