ISIS crucifies 'trafficker who tried to help people escape from terror group'

An Arabic note has been stuck to the body of the headless man, which hangs from a wooden support in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo.

One ISIS supporter on Twitter claimed he was being punished for 'stealing Muslims' which could imply he was trying to help someone escape from the terror group, but this cannot be independently verified.

There are networks of 'smugglers' inside Syria and Iraq who charge between £1,300 and £3,200 to rescue people from ISIS territory, a woman who organises these escapes told MailOnline recently.

She claimed dozens of captured Yazidi girls, who are raped and beaten by the ISIS fighters who kidnapped them, commit suicide if they are unable to escape.

Another man, who claims to have rescued nearly 400 Yazidi slaves from ISIS, said several members of his team have been captured and killed by the terror group.

Control of the province of Aleppo, where this latest ISIS beheading took place, is shared among the Syrian regime, ISIS who control much of the east, and rebel factions.

Several villages on the outskirts of Aleppo city were recently seized by ISIS fighters as Russian jets, which have been pounding Syria for two weeks, focused their fire on rebels in the neighbouring provinces of Hama and Idlib.

Iran has now sent thousands of troops to bolster the Syrian army and Hezbollah troops in a planned ground attack against 'insurgents' in Aleppo, two senior officials said. 

It is unclear whether this attack will target the rebel groups or ISIS fighters who control large swathes of the province. 

One of the officials said: 'The big battle preparations in that area are clear. There is a large mobilisation of the Syrian army, elite Hezbollah fighters and thousands of Iranians who arrived in stages in recent days.'  

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been propped up by Russia's bombing campaign, which the Kremlin claims is targetting ISIS and other terror groups, but they have been condemned by western governments for also hitting moderate rebels.

Yesterday, rebel commanders said they were readying anti-tank missiles provided to them by foreign backers to counter the ground offensive by Syria and its allies.

The United States recently air-dropped 50 tonnes of ammunition for rebel groups battling the Syrian regime backed by Russian airstrikes, raising fears of an all-out proxy war before the two world super-powers.

Two senior officers from Iran's Revolutionary Guard were killed while battling ISIS in Syria on Monday, the country's media has reported.

It is not known where Major General Farshad Hasounizadeh and Brigadier Hamid Mokhtarband, both commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), died in action. 

Another senior Iranian commander, Hossein Hamedani, was killed last week while advising the Syrian army near Aleppo.

(dailymail.co.uk)