Obama says ‘no strategy yet’ as IS executes Syrian troops

One held up the black flag of the jihadists. Others chanted: “Islamic State forever.”

Tabqa was the last position in Raqa province to fall to the jihadists, who now control a vast swathe of northeastern Syria and Iraq.

A UN-mandated probe has charged that public executions, amputations, lashings and mock crucifixions have become a regular fixture in jihadist-controlled areas of Syria.

The Syrian government launched air strikes of its own on Thursday, killing six IS leaders, the Observatory said, but Washington has baulked at cooperating with Damascus against the group.

On Thursday, Obama reiterated the stance, saying: “I don’t think there’s a situation where we have to choose between Assad or the kinds of people who carry on the incredible violence that we’ve been seeing there.”

Rival jihadists of Al-Nusra Front, backed by other rebels, detained 43 Fijian peacekeepers on the Golan on Thursday, a day after their capture of the sole crossing over the UN-patrolled armistice line to the Israeli-occupied sector of the plateau.

“Forty-three peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Quneitra,” a UN statement said.

The 43 peacekeepers from Fiji were forced to surrender their weapons and taken hostage, but 81 Filipino blue helmets “held their ground” and refused to disarm, the Philippine defence department said.

It said the Filipino peacekeepers were being surrounded by the gunmen in a stand-off.

The UN Security Council and the US separately condemned the action and demanded the “unconditional and immediate release” of the peacekeepers, a statement said.

Peacekeepers were detained twice last year before being released safely.

The Philippines has said it will repatriate its 331-strong contingent, for security reasons, mirroring previous moves by Australia, Croatia and Japan.

Washington has been weighing both aid drops and air strikes in Iraq to help residents of a Shiite Turkmen town besieged by the jihadists since early June, US officials said on Wednesday.

“It could be a humanitarian operation. It could be a military operation. It could be both,” said a US defence official on condition of anonymity.

UN Iraq envoy Nickolay Mladenov has called for an urgent effort to help Amerli, saying residents face a “possible massacre” if the town is overrun.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that at least four Western hostages held by the Islamic State in Syria, including the murdered Foley, were waterboarded in the early part of their captivity.

Waterboarding, which was used by the CIA during interrogations of suspected terrorists after the September 11, 2001 attacks, is a widely condemned form of torture that simulates drowning.