ISIS executed 175 cement workers near Damascus

[Anthea]

Al Jazeera

Syria civil war: ISIL kidnaps 300 factory workers

More than 300 staff at a cement factory near Damascus have been kidnapped after an attack earlier this week by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Syrian state TV said on Thursday.

Hundreds of employees at the Al Badia Cement company were taken by ISIL fighters from a factory in the town of Dumayr, 50km east of the Syrian capital, the report quoted the industry ministry as saying.

It added the workers' employer had lost all contact with them.

Residents in the nearby area of Giraud saw ISIL vehicles carrying nearly 125 workers and heading to the town of Tel Dkoh that is controlled by the group, local official Nadeem Krizan told Syria's official news agency SANA.

However, Krizan did not account for the other workers reportedly seized.

There were conflicting reports on Thursday about the number of people missing.

A resident of Dumeir, 50km east of the Syrian capital, told the AFP news agency that contact with family members had been lost "since noon on Monday".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "dozens" of staff had disappeared, while a plant administrator put the figure at 250.

"There is information that the workers might have been kidnapped by Islamic State and taken to an unknown destination," Rami Abdel Rahman, the Observatory's head, told the DPA news agency.

The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria for information, added the ISIL attack on Dumayr killed at least 20 Syrian soldiers and allied paramilitary fighters.

The cement factory lies outside Dumayr, which has seen fierce battles between government forces and ISIL fighters inside the town.

A Syrian security source told AFP that ISIL also tried to seize a nearby airbase and power plant from the government, without succeeding.

ISIL's latest attacks near Damascus are seen as retaliation for military setbacks suffered by the group elsewhere in Syria.

Last month, Syrian regime forces - backed by Russian warplanes - drove ISIL from the strategic and ancient city of Palmyra, which the fighters had controlled for 10 months.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/s ... 33867.html

[Anthea]

ARA News

ISIS takes hundreds of government workers as hostages southern Syria

QAMISHLI – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has reportedly taken hundreds of government workers as hostages while on their way returning home in Syria’s southern province of Damascus, local and official sources reported on Thursday.

“ISIS terrorists have captured more than 300 government workers while on their way back home in the city of Dumair near Syria’s capital Damascus,” Ministry of Industry in the Syrian government said on Thursday.

The abductees were working in a governmental cement plant in the Dumair city, according to the ministry.

“Communication was cut with the kidnapped workers since Thursday’s afternoon; however, efforts continue for their liberation from the terror group,” Syrian state agency SANA reported, citing sources in the ministry.

Speaking to ARA News in Damascus, media activist Adnan al-Shami confirmed that two ISIS-led cars were seen by locals, carrying the abductees inside, heading towards the eastern Ghouta of Damascus.

“ISIS has likely transferred the hostages to Tel Dakwa area in the eastern Ghouta,” eyewitnesses told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This happened before the eyes of the Syrian army forces stationed near Ghouta.”

“The Syrian authorities have been exploiting every single issue and event for their advantage, manipulating the presence of terrorist groups inside the country politically and militarily,” al-Shami argued. “Since the start of the anti-Assad uprising in 2011, Syrian regime has been showing itself as the sole protector of Syrian people and the first defense line in the face radical groups. However, the incidents have shown otherwise.”

Over the past few months, ISIS’s power has remarkably declined, especially after receiving painful blows by the US-led coalition forces and Russian air forces. ISIS strives to compensate its losses through storming Damascus, especially after it was expelled from the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria subsequent to fierce clashes with the pro-regime forcesــ supported by a Russian air cover.

http://aranews.net/2016/04/isis-takes-h ... ern-syria/

[Anthea]

Over the past few months, ISIS’s power has remarkably declined

So saith the world media

Do I believe the media

NO

What I see is a highly organised, radical organisation, with only about 30,000 active fighters, holding the combined force of the worlds greatest powers at arms length and bringing terror to the entire western world

What I did not see, before Russia's involvement, was any serious attempt to rid Syria or the world of these fanatics

In point of fact, the Islamic had been growing expediently. Expanding throughout the Middle East and forming links with jihadist groups in other countries

After 5 years, not even the borders with Turkey have been closed

We are ALL well aware that Turkey is providing vital road networks by which ISIS are transporting oil and stolen artefacts and receiving supplies, armament and recruits

The might of the western world has so far FAILED to rescue the innocent Yezidi women and children who are being raped and tortured on a daily basis

Over the past few months, ISIS’s power has remarkably declined

TELL THAT TO THE DEAD IN BRUSSELS

[Anthea]

ISIS militants massacred 175 of around 300 workers who were captured at a cement factory Northeast of Damascus

No further details were provided on the nature of the killings.

It was reported that Islamic State fighters kidnapped scores of workers in an area northeast of Damascus after launching an attack on government forces there this week, Syrian state television and a monitoring group said on Thursday.

State TV quoted the industry ministry as saying 300 workers and contractors of Al Badia Cement were taken from near the town of Dumeir and that the company had lost all contact with them.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later gave a figure of around 170 workers who had been abducted from the cement factory and taken to undisclosed areas controlled by the militants in the Damascus suburbs.

The monitor, which tracks violence across the country, said 140 workers at the plant had fled before the militants arrived.

[Anthea]

ISIS executed 173 of the 300 cement factory workers what happened to the other 125?

Were the 125 missing cement factory workers FEMALE?

Have they now been added to ISIS supply of sex slaves?