The Islamic State (IS), formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have warned Kurdish officials over their alliance with United States of America in a short video where they seemingly behead a Peshmerga fighter.
In the video, which was posted on YouTube Thursday evening, IS militants warn that more Peshmerga fighters will be beheaded if the Kurdistan Regional Government does not end its ties with USA.
The video has emerged as Peshmerga fighters make territorial advances in the outskirts of mosul and the key strategic Batna mountain, which overlooks the city of Mosul, an ISIS stronghold.
The footage shows fourteen Peshmerga fighters in orange suites, whose fate they claim are in the hands of Kurdish officials.
You can read more about ISIS territorial advances in Iraq here, and the beheading of James Foley here, here, and here.
What was remarkably different from this beheading was the social media response, the lack of outrage, outcries, immediate international condemnation from world leaders and mainstream media attention. Could this be a lesson from the outrageous murder of James Foley, which circulated on social networking sites endlessly? Perhaps.
There is a difference between reporting ISIS atrocities and perpetuating their propaganda. When an injustice occurs, responsible news agencies should report it.
Several people have pointed out that ISIS use social media sites to facilitate a platform for their propaganda, but this does not mean a complete blackout of news pertaining to ISIS. There is a fine line between reporting news of atrocities and circulating propaganda messages from ISIS media outlets.