The Islamic State (IS) group beheaded Thursday a Syrian imam, or mosque prayer leader, for "insulting God," a monitoring group said. "The IS executed the imam of a mosque from the village of Abu Khuyut near Hasakeh city (in north-eastern Syria) at dawn Thursday," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Britain-based Observatory added that three of the mans's sons were IS fighters, and that it was the first time the jihadists executed a religious official for this reason.
The man was detained after watching a video on executions carried out by IS and cursing because God had permitted them, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. The IS carries out near-daily executions in the territories of Syria and Iraq that it controls.