Jihadists Execute 7 in Syria, 2 by Crucifixion

It has come to this. Now the barbarians are murdering people in Syria not just by shooting them at close range and not just by incinerating their internal organs with chemical weapons. We have reached a depth where brutality again knows no bounds.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) announced - announced! - that they have executed seven prisoners, two of them by execution, in their fiefdom straddling northeastern Syria.

The group claimed (by Twitter, no less) that it had imposed the executions in retaliation for an attack on one of its members, the Daily Star reported.

"Ten days ago, attackers on a motorbike threw a grenade at an ISIL fighter at the Naim roundabout. A Muslim civilian had his leg blown off and a child was killed," the group said on Twitter.

"Our fighters immediately set up a roadblock and succeeded in capturing them. They were then able to detain other members of the cell."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights posted a photograph of the two prisoners being crucified, right at the convergence of several roads.  Passersby shown in the photos appeared utterly unfazed by the gruesome sight.

One of the men crucified appears in a photo blindfolded and with his head spattered with blood. According to Syrian site, the banner wrapped around his body has this message: "This man fought against Muslims and threw a grenade in this place."

The crucifixions and other means of revenge levied by ISIL has made it a pariah amongst its fellow Islamist murderers. Even al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, has turned on its former colleagues.

The SOHR said these were not the first crucifixions by ISIL. On April 16, its fighters crucified a man for theft from a Muslim.