Seven hundred members of the al-Sheitaat tribe in Syria have been massacred by Islamic State forces, according to reports from the Syrian Human Rights Observatory. Many of the executions were beheadings. Reuters: "Those who were executed are all al-Sheitaat," Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman said by telephone from Britain. "Some were arrested, judged and killed." Reuters cannot independently verify reports from Syria due to security conditions and reporting restrictions. Proclaiming a 'caliphate' straddling parts of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State has swept across northern Iraq in recent weeks, pushing back Kurdish regional forces and driving tens of thousands of Muslims, Christians and members of the Yazidi religious minority from their homes, prompting the first U.S. air strikes in Iraq since the withdrawal of American troops in 2011. The insurgents are also tightening their grip in Syria, of which they now control roughly a third,...(Read Full Post)