The HORRORS of ISIS Execution Methods *Warning REAL FOOTAGE

The HORRORS of Isis Execution  Methods *Warning REAL FOOTAGE   When ISIS first emerged, most  people underestimated them. But,   something far darker took shape  very soon. Town squares, prisons,   and even ancient ruins were turned into stages  of death. It was not just a campaign of violence,   but a calculated system of terror, designed  to break entire communities.

 And the damage   it caused continues to haunt those  who survived it.   It started in 2004 with a man named Abu Musab  al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who shaped   what ISIS would later become. At that time, ISIS  did not exist as a group with land, borders, or   flags.

 But Zarqawi was already showing the world  what kind of violence this movement would be built   on. In Iraq, he began using extreme brutality  as a message. He did not just kill his victims.   He filmed it. He turned murder into something  public, planned, and meant to be watched.   One of the earliest victims was an American  civilian contractor named Nick Berg. In May 2004,   Berg was filmed sitting on the ground in front  of masked men.

 He was forced to calmly say his   name on camera. Moments later, his head was cut  off. The video spread fast across the internet   and news channels. People around the world were  stunned. What disturbed viewers was not only the   killing itself, but how cold and deliberate  it felt. The execution was staged, filmed,   and shared to scare people far beyond Iraq.

 That same summer, Zarqawi personally carried out   another beheading. This time, the victim was  another American, Eugene Armstrong. Again,   the killing was filmed. Again, it was meant to  be seen. Zarqawi wanted fear to spread faster   than any attack on the ground. His cruelty was not  limited to foreigners. He openly crucified people   in public and ordered the execution of anyone he  labeled an “infidel.

” Sunnis, Shiites, civilians,   aid workers, and soldiers were all targeted.  To him, anyone outside his narrow beliefs was   an enemy. Because of this extreme and public  brutality, he became known as the “Sheikh of   the slaughterers,” a name that reflected both  how he killed and how often he did it.   Over time, Zarqawi pushed warfare  into a darker place.

 By many accounts,   he launched a new level of horror in modern  conflict. He made videotaped executions   normal. He used mass killings and public  punishments to terrorize entire communities.   The so-called “Islamic punishments” he used came  from ancient interpretations of religious law,   but he carried them out with modern tools  and modern media.

 Beheadings, crucifixions,   burning people alive, stonings, and other brutal  executions became part of his system. This was   medieval cruelty mixed with modern technology,  filmed clearly and shared widely. His campaign of   terror destabilized large parts of Iraq and proved  that fear itself could be a powerful weapon.   In June 2006, Zarqawi was killed in a U.S.  airstrike.

 But his death did not stop the   violence he started.  Fast forward to 2013. The Syrian civil war   was tearing the country apart, and Iraq was  still deeply unstable. Out of this chaos, a   group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and  Syria, or ISIS, began seizing large areas of land.   Town by town, city by city, they pushed forward.

  By mid-2014, ISIS controlled roughly a third of   both Syria and Iraq. They declared a caliphate  and named their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,   as the caliph. With land came power, and with  power came bloodshed on a massive scale.   As ISIS stormed cities, they immediately began  killing anyone they saw as enemies or “infidels.”   In July 2014, they captured Mosul, Iraq’s  second-largest city.

 What followed was a wave of   executions. Captured soldiers and civilians were  killed in large numbers. Witnesses later described   seeing dozens of severed heads placed on spikes  and bodies dumped into mass graves. These killings   were meant to be seen and remembered.  Around the same time, ISIS attacked Sinjar and   nearby villages, targeting the Yazidi population.

  Thousands of Yazidi men were executed, along with   some women, and many of their bodies were dumped  into mass graves. Thousands more were kidnapped.   Women and girls were taken away and forced into  se*ual slavery. When areas were later retaken,   horrifying images came out. Investigators  found mass graves filled with bones and   skulls. Severed heads were uncovered in the  dirt.

 The United Nations later officially   recognized these crimes as genocide. In Baghdad and other areas, police officers   and soldiers who refused to pledge loyalty to  ISIS were executed on the spot. In provinces like   Diyala, ISIS hung banners and signs warning people  that disobedience meant death. These warnings were   not empty threats. Entire communities learned  quickly that resistance led to execution.  

By this stage, ISIS had already murdered  tens of thousands of civilians and abducted   thousands more. Fear spread faster than the group  itself. There was no safe place, not in cities,   not in villages, and not even in homes. Executions became a daily reality under ISIS   rule. Killings were used to keep people silent and  obedient.

 A later United Nations report described   ISIS’s campaign as an effort to control civilians  through terror. Their rule was built entirely   on fear. Even the smallest act of defiance could  result in public torture or death. Children were   not protected from this violence.

 Some were forced  to watch executions, while others were trained to   carry them out. Later videos showed child soldiers  shooting prisoners under direct ISIS orders.   At first, much of the world only heard rumors  about these killings. But ISIS made sure those   rumors were confirmed. They released propaganda  videos showing executions in graphic detail,   always on their own terms. These videos were  carefully staged and deliberately shocking.  

Many people watching from afar did not yet  realize how extreme this violence would become,   or how central executions would be to ISIS’s  identity. What had started years earlier with   Zarqawi was now unfolding on a massive scale,  and it was only the beginning.   In the middle of all the chaos, foreign  journalists and aid workers working in   Syria and Iraq became prime targets for  ISIS.

 These were people who had come to   report on the war or help civilians, but  ISIS saw them as powerful symbols.    One of them was James Wright Foley, an American  journalist who had been kidnapped in Syria back in   2012 while doing his job. For nearly two years,  very little was known about his fate. Then,   on August 19, 2014, a video suddenly appeared  online.

 It showed Foley kneeling on the ground,   wearing an orange jumpsuit. An ISIS militant stood  beside him holding a knife. Foley spoke briefly   to the camera, clearly under pressure. Moments  later, the video cut away as he was beheaded.   This became the first recorded execution of  an American by ISIS. When the news spread,   Foley’s family explained that he had dedicated  his life to reporting on human suffering.  

The shock did not fade, because ISIS did not  stop. Just two weeks later, on September 2, 2014,   another execution video was released. This time,  the victim was Steven Sotloff, another American   journalist. Like Foley, Sotloff had been kidnapped  while reporting in the region. He was shown   kneeling in the same way, and he was beheaded  on camera.

 He became the second American hostage   killed this way. ISIS claimed both killings were  punishment for actions taken by the United States.   By now, it was clear these were not isolated acts.  They were carefully planned messages meant to   provoke fear and draw global attention. As these videos spread, people across the   world watched in disbelief.

 Governments, news  organizations, and ordinary viewers condemned the   killings. Leaders in the United States openly  vowed to take military action against ISIS.   But the violence continued. British aid worker  David Haines, who had been captured in Syria,   was beheaded in a video released in  mid-September 2014. Just weeks later,   on October 3, 2014, another video showed the  execution of Alan Henning, a British taxi driver   who had traveled to Syria to help civilians.

 His  killing hit especially hard because he was not a   soldier or a journalist, but a volunteer  trying to do good. Around the same time,   American aid worker Peter Kassig, who had spent  years helping war victims, appeared briefly in   the final moments of Alan Henning’s execution  video. Kassig was later executed as well.   By the end of 2014, ISIS had released a horrifying  series of execution videos.

 Americans, Britons,   Japanese hostages, and aid workers from  different countries had all been killed.   Each video followed a similar pattern, making  them feel like part of a deliberate campaign   rather than separate crimes. ISIS wanted every  execution filmed and shared. The goal was to   spread fear as far and as fast as possible.

 The constant exposure made these killings feel   like a live broadcast of violence. For ISIS,  this attention also attracted new recruits   who were drawn to the group’s image of  power and brutality.    By 2015, ISIS pushed its violence even further and  crossed lines many people did not think could be   crossed.

 In January of that year, ISIS captured a  Jordanian Air Force pilot named Moaz al-Kasasbeh   after his plane crashed during a mission. Weeks  later, while news was spreading that Japan was   trying to negotiate the release of a Japanese  hostage, ISIS responded in the most shocking   way possible. On February 3, 2015, they released  a video showing Kasasbeh locked inside a metal   cage. The cage was set on fire while he was  still alive.

 His screams could be heard as he   burned to death. This execution stunned the  world. It was ISIS deliberately showing that   they were willing to kill in the most painful and  extreme ways imaginable. Jordan reacted quickly by   executing a prisoner in retaliation, but the  damage had already been done. The image of a   man burned alive inside a cage became one of the  most disturbing symbols of ISIS brutality.  

Just days earlier, ISIS had already released  another execution video. On January 31, 2015,   the victim was Kenji Goto, a Japanese journalist.  Goto had traveled back into Syria trying to help   rescue a friend who had also been taken hostage.  Instead, he was captured himself. ISIS filmed his   execution and released the video to the public.

 In  Japan, the footage was replayed across television   networks, and the country went into mourning. By  this point, the pattern was clear. ISIS was using   hostage executions on camera as a tool. Sometimes  it was meant to pressure governments. Other times,   it was pure propaganda. Throughout 2015, their  victims were not limited to Westerners.

 Egyptians,   Nigerians, Syrians, and many others were executed  after being labeled as “spies” or “apostates,”   often with no evidence and no real trial. As the year went on, ISIS began showing that   beheadings were only one part of their violence.  In June 2015, they released a video that showed   executions carried out using cages, explosives,  firearms, and fire.

 Men accused of spying were   locked inside a metal cage and slowly lowered into  a filthy pool of water until they drowned. Others   had explosive devices strapped around their necks  and were blown apart. Some prisoners were forced   into cars that were then set on fire. The video  was carefully produced to showcase cruelty as   entertainment and intimidation.  From early on, ISIS loved to film executions.  

Their soldiers waved phones while cutting  throats. They posted videos online immediately.   Casual narration or news reports can’t capture  the raw fear of those films. ISIS knew this. A   short video of an execution could rack up millions  of views. It was shocking, so people watched it,   and the cruelty made the group famous.

 To ISIS, every public killing was a theatrical   warning. They often executed people publicly in  conquered towns. For instance, in conquered Mosul   or Raqqa, they held open trials in stadiums.  Accused people, sometimes blindfolded,   were led out as a crowd watched. Judges, wearing  black turbans and explosives belts, ordered   executions. There were videos of men kneeling,  hands tied, before being shot or beheaded.  

The international videos targeted governments  and the public directly. When an American or a   European was executed, the crowd who could see it  was global. ISIS fighters often spoke in flawless   English to explain their actions to the camera.  Nobody could watch such videos without horror.   Each time a hostage’s life was snuffed out, world  leaders promised revenge.

 The West launched an   international air campaign partly because of those  images. ISIS wanted to terrorize, but they also   united the world against them. By late 2015, after ISIS began losing territory   like Kobani and other northern cities, their  violence against civilians became even more   brutal. They punished communities they believed  had turned against them.

 In and around Mosul,   ISIS rounded up Christian minorities. Videos  later surfaced showing hundreds of Christian   men dressed in orange jumpsuits, kneeling in rows.  One by one, they were beheaded on camera.    One of the most shocking videos showed  21 Egyptian Copts, Christian laborers who   had been kidnapped in Libya.

 They were  marched onto a beach, forced to kneel,   and shown praying quietly in Arabic. ISIS fighters  stood behind them and cut their throats.   Captured soldiers and police officers  also faced brutal deaths. Any member of   the military who fought ISIS and was captured  was often executed immediately. Over time,   mass graves began to appear across Iraq and Syria.  One example is Hawija in Iraq.

 When Iraqi forces   retook the town in 2017, they discovered a  mass grave containing 260 bodies of police   troops. These men had been shot and chopped  up. It was a clear act of revenge by ISIS.   The group also posted lists online naming people  they accused of being “spies”. Sometimes these   were just poor farmers or low-level officials  accused of supporting the government.

 Once named,   those people were hunted down. If caught, they  were usually killed on the spot. Guns, knives,   and explosives were the most common methods. By the time ISIS lost Mosul in 2017 and Raqqa   later that same year, the full scale of the damage  was impossible to ignore. During just two years of   control, public executions and secret killings  had destroyed entire communities.

 Hundreds of   thousands of people had either fled their homes or  were dead. ISIS was officially labeled a criminal   organization responsible for some of the worst  war crimes in modern history.    By 2018, the group’s so-called caliphate had  collapsed. They no longer ruled major cities or   large areas of land.

 But even as ISIS was defeated  on the battlefield, the horror they left behind   did not disappear. During the final battles for  cities like Mosul and Raqqa, ISIS often executed   civilians, captured rebels, and anyone they  suspected of betrayal before retreating. When   they finally fled, they left behind physical proof  of their crimes that could not be erased.   In Mosul in 2017, investigators began uncovering  mass graves. These were not isolated sites.

 One   pit alone contained around 500 bodies, mostly  Iraqi civilians and former soldiers who had been   shot by ISIS. Other graves held villagers whose  bodies showed signs of decapitation. In Raqqa,   Syria, excavation teams made equally disturbing  discoveries. They found wells where ISIS had   forced victims inside and then buried them  alive.

 These sites showed that executions were   not only public acts of terror, but also quiet  killings meant to erase people completely.   As troops moved through the ruins, they found  the tools ISIS had used to carry out executions.   Among the rubble were suitcases filled with bomb  vests, knives still stained with blood, and metal   cages like the ones used in filmed drownings.

  These discoveries made it clear that ISIS had   not acted randomly. Their violence was planned  and organized. In 2018, when the town of Baghuz,   the last major ISIS stronghold, was captured,  residents showed journalists photographs of   fresh graves and bodies found with their hands  tied. These were signs of executions carried out   by ISIS fighters even in their final days.

 For families left behind, the end of ISIS control   did not bring peace. Many returned to empty  homes and destroyed neighborhoods. A Yazidi   survivor later told a journalist that ISIS  would beat and behead people in public simply   to remind everyone what happened to those who  disobeyed. Former prisoners described hearing   children scream as they were tortured  for no reason other than cruelty.   

These stories came out slowly, as survivors  felt safe enough to speak. Years later,   courts in Europe and Iraq began holding ISIS  members accountable. In 2020, two militants   from the ISIS cell nicknamed “the Beatles”  were convicted for the murders of hostages,   including James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

 In Iraq,  many ISIS executioners were put to death for their   crimes. Still, not all were caught. Some leaders  were killed in raids, and others disappeared.   Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s leader, died in  2019 after blowing himself up during a raid.   Even with ISIS broken as a military force,  the pain has never fully faded. Many families   have only been able to recover fragments of bones  instead of full bodies.

 Closure remains impossible   for many. The 21 Coptic Christians murdered on  the Libyan beach were later honored as saints by   their church, but their families continue to live  with the memory of how they died. In late 2020 and   throughout 2021, trials began for those involved  in the beach executions and other massacres.   Survivors and witnesses stepped forward to tell  what they saw and endured.   

Today, newspapers and memorials keep the memory  alive. The names of the executed are carved into   memorials. They were ordinary people caught in a  nightmare and the world mourns their loss.   Even though the ISIS caliphate is gone, lessons  remain. Soldiers and reporters study those   videos now to teach the world. International law  fights to bring war criminals to justice.   

The group wanted to spread terror.  Instead, their story became a warning.