Obama condemns new ISIL beheading

US President Barack Obama has condemned the beheading of British citizen Alan Henning at the hands of the ISIL terrorist group, which is operating in Syria and Iraq.

In a statement issued on Friday, Obama said the United States would bring those responsible for the “brutal” death to justice.

“Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners, we will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” he said.

Earlier in the day, ISIL released a video purportedly showing the decapitation of Henning, who had been held hostage by terrorists.

Henning was the fourth Western hostage beheaded by ISIL, and a video of the act was released every time. ISIL had previously released videos showing the beheadings of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.

Henning was delivering aid to Syria in December when he was kidnapped by the militants.

In the video, the victim said that he was being executed in response to US-led coalition airstrikes against ISIL.

“I am Allen Henning. Because of our parliament’s decision to attack the Islamic State, I, as a member of the British public, will now pay the price for that decision,” he said before being killed during the video.

At the end of the video, ISIL showed another aid worker, US citizen Peter Kassig, and threatened his life.

“Mr Henning worked to help improve the lives of the Syrian people and his death is a great loss for them, for his family and the people of the United Kingdom,” Obama said in the statement.

“Standing together with our UK friends and allies, we will work to bring the perpetrators of Alan’s murder — as well as the murders of Jim Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines — to justice.”

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, control large parts of Syria’s northern territory. ISIL sent its fighters into Iraq in June, quickly seizing vast expanse of land straddling the border between the two countries.

The US and several of its allies began striking ISIL targets in Syria on September 23. American warplanes have already conducted hundreds of strikes against ISIL in Iraq since mid-August.

GJH/GJH