Obama-Backed Syrian Rebels Brutally Decapitate Little Boy
By Katie Zavadski. Members of an American-backed rebel group in Syria beheaded a young child in a grisly execution video.
The footage surfaced early Tuesday of members of Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and a captured child in Handarat, near Aleppo. The young boy, who appears to be prepubescent, is then executed on the back of a pickup truck.
The gruesome videotaped murder of a child drew outrage on social media and the promise of an inquiry from the group’s leadership, which has previously received U.S.-made weapons and American funding. The group no longer gets such backing. But it’s also renewed questions about which rebels the American government has supported in Syria’s ongoing civil war. (Read more from “Obama-Backed Syrian Rebels Brutally Decapitate Little Boy” HERE)
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Pentagon Assembles Allied Nations to Plot out Next Stage of Islamic State Fight
By Missy Ryan. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter will gather defense ministers from allied nations this week to plan what officials hope will be the decisive stage in the campaign against the Islamic State, even as political upheaval and terrorist attacks strain the U.S.-led coalition battling the group.
At Wednesday’s meeting at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, Pentagon officials will present plans for upcoming battles in Iraq, where local forces are preparing to confront militants in the city of Mosul, and in Syria, where U.S.-backed fighters hope to eventually isolate militants in their de facto capital of Raqqa.
As they have in the past, senior American officials will press visiting ministers to commit additional troops and assets to the campaign, with a special focus on resources earmarked for efforts to stabilize and rebuild areas reclaimed from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. (Read more from “Pentagon Assembles Allied Nations to Plot out Next Stage of Islamic State Fight” HERE)
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