More than 700 killed in Syria as ISIS tightens grip on east
Deadliest 48 hours in conflict to date say activists, while ISIS continues
efforts to seize Deir Ezzor
Paula Astih Asharq Al-Awsat Sunday, 20 Jul, 2014
http://www.aawsat.net/2014/07/article55334493

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat - More than 700 people were killed in Syria over the
course of Thursday and Friday, in what activists say were the bloodiest 48
hours of fighting in the conflict to date.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdul
Rahman, told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time casualties had
topped 700 in the space of two days since the conflict began in 2011. He
contrasted the violence to the gas attack in the Ghouta region close to
Damascus last year, which he said killed around 500 people.

The UK-based SOHR tracks casualties on both sides of the Syrian conflict by
collating reports from a network of observers on the ground in the country.

The final toll was announced after the SOHR reported that 270 people had
been killed in fighting between pro-Syrian government forces and militants
from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), when the latter seized the
Shaar gas field east of the city of Homs on Friday.

Abdul Rahman said the death toll of Thursday’s clashes was 396 people, while
Friday’s total reached 314, adding that 90 more people were still
unaccounted for, although they were also expected to have been killed.

At the end of June, ISIS declared that it had formed an “Islamic State” on
territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, and had appointed its leader Abu
Bakr Al-Baghdadi as a new “caliph,” or spiritual and political leader of the
world’s Muslims.

While this, and its role at the vanguard of the rebellion against the
government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, has gained the most
attention in recent weeks, the group has also continued its attempts to win
more territory in Syria. In particular, it is continuing to strengthen its
hold on provinces in eastern Syrian territories like Deir Ezzor, expelling
or killing members of other Syrian rebel groups and battling to take
territory controlled by Syrian Kurds.

As well as expanding territory under its control, ISIS is also reported to
be cracking down on activities it deems contrary to its radical
interpretation of Islamic law, including execution by public stoning.

ISIS reportedly carried out the stoning of a woman charged with adultery in
the main stadium of the city of Tabqa on Thursday. SOHR said ISIS fighters
brought a car filled with rocks and stoned the woman they accused of
adultery to death, adding that residents refused to participate in the
stoning.