Standing by the severed head of Peter Kassig in the latest video, Jihadi John says, "Here we are burying the first American crusader" in Dabiq, a town in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish border. Known in the Western media as "Jihadi John," he effectively narrates and rationalizes the acts, and as such has become the subject of worldwide scrutiny. The only consistent figure in all of these videos - and the only one wearing a mask in the latest clip - is the black-clad, British-accented man speaking to the camera. The videos produced by the militant Sunni group also have the effect of intimidating Shia and moderate Sunnis who may oppose ISIS's attempt to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, that straddles Iraq and Syria, says Paris. aid worker and former Army Ranger Peter Kassig. and other Western nations involved in Iraq, and thereby recruit more anti-Western jihadis, says Roland Paris, research chair in international security at the University of Ottawa. While it is impossible to discern the ultimate aim of these videos, many observers believe they are an act of provocation to get the U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning on camera.
#Isis beheading series
The clip is the latest in a series of beheading videos produced by ISIS, which has previously killed U.S. Says Ali, "It's just a way of saying, 'We're not afraid.'" Loch Johnson, an international affairs professor at the University of Georgia, says unmasking the perpetrators is a way for ISIS to amplify the shock value, making it more "personal" and "more wrenching for people in the West to see."īut Firas Abi Ali, a London-based senior analyst at the global intelligence group IHS, believes the lack of facial covering is not so much a change in strategy as a way for ISIS to "show a little more confidence." ISIS beheading video shows Welsh medical student, father says.Peter Kassig ISIS video beheading confirmed by U.S.
Every other member's face is completely visible – families in Wales and France have even come forward saying their sons are among the ISIS killers.
What is striking to some observers is that, unlike previous beheading videos, only one of the killers from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is wearing a hood in this video. Army Ranger turned aid worker in Syria, as well as the decapitation of a group of Syrian soldiers. Released online on Sunday, the latest video shows the severed head of 26-year-old Peter Kassig, a former U.S. In the meantime, Middle East analysts are divided over whether details in the video signal a change in the jihadi group's strategy. government is considering a military response to the new ISIS video featuring a murdered American aid worker.