ISIL crucifies 8 rebels in Syria

ISIL jihadist group in Syria has publicly executed and crucified eight rebels fighting both President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the jihadists, a monitor said yesterday.
The report comes amid fierce clashes on the outskirts of Damascus between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is spearheading a major offensive in Iraq, and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
ISIL "crucified them in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days", the Britain-based monitor said.
ISIL first emerged in Syria's war in late spring last year and was initially welcomed by some Syrian rebels who believed its combat experience would help topple Assad.
But subsequent abuses quickly turned the Syrian opposition, including Islamists, against the group. Rebels launched a major anti-ISIL offensive in January 2014, and have pushed them out of large swathes of Aleppo province and all of Idlib in the northwest.
However, ISIL remains firmly rooted in Raqa, its northern Syrian headquarters, and wields significant power in Deir Ezzor in the east near the border with Iraq.
Activists say the group's Iraq offensive and capture of heavy weapons -- some of them US-made -- appears to have boosted its confidence in Syria.