‘ISIL bites US hands feeding it’

American journalist Steven Sotloff, who was recently executed in Syria by the ISIL Takfiri group, was reportedly in the crisis-hit country to report the militant group’s victories.

On Tuesday, the ISIL released a video that purported to show the beheading of Sotloff. In a message, the journalist said that he is “paying the price” for US military intervention.

In the video, ISIL also threatens to kill another individual who is believed to be a British citizen.

Sotloff, who was working for Time magazine, Foreign Policy and other publications, disappeared in Syria in 2013.

The American journalist had reportedly entered the Syrian city of Aleppo through Turkey along with groups of militants fighting against the Syrian government.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly warned the US and other countries in the region, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which are providing arms and military training to anti-Damascus militants in Syria, that they will face the threat of the terrorist groups they support.

The ISIL beheaded James Foley, another American journalist, last week in apparent retaliation for US airstrikes on Iraq, where the terrorist group has seized large swaths of territory.

Sotloff had the experience of working as a journalist in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. According to his family, he had lived in Yemen for many years and could speak Arabic fluently.

US officials had advised Sotloff’s family not to break the news of his abduction to the media in order not to endanger his life. This is why the US media and the American public were unaware of his abduction until recently.

IA/HJL