IS Executes 700 Members of a Tribe in Syria

The Islamic State has executed 700 members of a tribe in eastern Syria in the last two weeks, a human rights monitoring group said on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that members of the al-Sheitaat tribe from the Deir al-Zor province were mostly beheaded.

"Those who were executed are all al-Sheitaat," Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman said by telephone from Britain, reports France 24.  "Some were arrested, judged and killed." He said that the fate of another 1800 was still unknown.

There were 100 fighters among the 700 executed, the rest were civilians. The al-Sheitaat tribe is 80,000 strong. They are fighting the former ISIS militants for the two oil-field seized by the group from their area.

The head of the al-Sheitaat tribe, Sheikh Rafaa Aakla al-Raju, has called for other tribes to join the fight against the IS, which has declared a caliphate in some regions of Iraq and Syria.

"We appeal to the other tribes to stand by us because it will be their turn next ... If (Islamic State) are done with us the other tribes will be targeted after al-Sheitaat. They are the next target," he said in the video, posted on YouTube, reports Reuters.

The killings , according to media reports were gruesome and some of the fighters were injured and dragged out of hospitals and medical centers before being executed. The killings were a result of Sheitaat tribal elders' refusal to pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, reports the Al Jazeera.

Opposition leaders in Syria have called for a more active international intervention.  Hadi al-Bahra, a Syrian National Coalition (SNC) leader said, "The silence of the international community is unbelievable" reports Al Jazeera. "There is no excuse for them to keep a blind eye on what is happening in Syria. We have reports supported by documents and videos that crimes in Deir Ezzor against humanity are being committed by IS on a daily basis."