The Islamic State (IS, formally ISIS) terror militia on Sunday overran the last major military facility controlled by Syria’s Assad regime, dealing a humiliating blow to the regime which has now completely lost control of Raqqa province to IS, which now controls almost a third of Syria and close to half of neighboring Iraq. Heavy casualties were reported by both sides in the battle, with witnesses adding grisly tales of IS beheading captured regime soldiers and putting their severed heads on public display in neighboring towns. In related news, the Cairo-based Dar el-Ifta scholarly association, one of the Sunni Moslem world’s foremost authorities, launched an on-line campaign Sunday to discredit IS and its claims to have resurrected the Islamic caliphate. This follows similar actions by other Moslem clerics and universities, which have so far had little apparent effect on IS’s growing popularity in the Moslem world.Read More
