Islamic State militants hunted Syrian government troops and loyalists in the newly captured town of Palmyra, shooting or beheading them in public as a warning, and imposing their strict interpretation of Islam, activists said Friday.
The purge, which relied mostly on informants, was aimed at solidifying the extremists’ grip on the strategic town that was overrun Wednesday by Islamic State fighters.
It also was part of a campaign to win the support of President Bashar Assad’s opponents, who have suffered from a government crackdown in the town and surrounding province in the past four years of Syria’s civil war.
The strategy included promises to fix the electricity and water grids — after Palmyra is cleared of regime loyalists, according to an activist in the historic town.
The man is known in the activist community by the nom de guerre of Omar Hamza because he fears for his security.
In neighboring Iraq, Islamic State militants made more territorial gains, seizing the small town of Husseiba, less than a week after capturing the provincial capital of Ramadi, said tribal leader Sheikh Rafie al-Fahdawi. The Iraqi government plans to launch a counteroffensive in Anbar involving Iranian-backed Shiite militias.
