Ben Winsor

ISIS militants drove 600 Shia, Christian and Yazidi male prisoners into the middle of the desert, lined them up along the edge of a ravine, and executed them at point blank range, according to a report by Human Rights Watch released today. 

The inmates, taken from a local prison, were forced to count themselves as they lined up before members of the jihadist militant group opened fire on them with machine guns. 

Human Rights Watch says it spoke to nine survivors of the massacre. They told the organization they made it out alive by rolling into the ravine and pretending to be dead, or were shielded by the bodies of other prisoners who fell on top of them.

BEIRUT: The families of the Lebanese captives held by Nusra Front and ISIS have given the government a 48 hours before they will escalate their protests after meeting with Prime Minister Tamam Salam at the Grand Serail Thursday evening. Speaking on behalf of the families of the 27 Lebanese soldiers and policemen being held captive […]

  State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr on Thursday filed terror charges against the dangerous detainee Ahmed Miqati and 17 others. "The military judiciary has received the terrorist detainee Ahmed Salim Miqati, 46, who is one of the top cadres of the ISIL (Islamic State) group and goes by the noms de […]

  BEIRUT: “My ambition is what drove me to [enter] the Miss Lebanon competition,” said Saly Greige, newly crowned Miss Lebanon 2014. That ambition proved to be decisive: the 25-year-old beauty got into the finals held this month at the Casino du Liban and beat 13 other contestants to be chosen to hold the crown. […]

  The March 14 forces on Wednesday called on Hizbullah to put an end to “the duality of two armies and two decisions in one country,” noting that attempts to “label the Lebanese as supporters and critics of the army” were refuted by the latest Tripoli battle. “The national solidarity with the army, especially by […]

  BEIRUT: Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi Wednesday vowed to hunt down Islamist militants during a visit to the families of two soldiers killed during the four-day military offensive against jihadists in north Lebanon that ended Monday. “There will be no compromise or truce with the soldier-killers,” Kahwagi said in remarks carried by the state-run […]

  Two brawls erupted Wednesday at the Notre Dame University in Louaize between students belonging to the Lebanese Forces and others from the Free Patriotic Movement. LBCI television said the two-phase clash broke out over the issue of “raising electoral banners, two days ahead of the scheduled student elections at NDU.” The polls will be […]

Former Islamic State militants captured by Kurdish forces in Northern Syria told CNN correspondent Ivan Watson that IS (ISIL or ISIS) leaders drugged and brainwashed them to fight for “Islam and justice.”

The first prisoner, identified as Suleiman, told Watson he received $3,600 to detonate a car bomb outside a Kurdish military base.

“They said they were fighting for Islam and justice. They were lying to us,” Suleiman said. “They took advantage of our minds and our poverty.”

The next prisoner was a 19-year-old named Kareem, who fought for IS in Syria for more than a year.

The 28-year-old former US soldier who joined a Kurdish militia to fight against militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) is urging more military veterans to join the fight. Through his own profile and with the launch of a new Facebook page called "The Lions of Rojava," Jordan Matson is helping to recruit others across Europe, Australia, and the US, according to The Daily Mail. "We will pick you up on your arrival to the location they gave you to come," Matson wrote in a Facebook posting on Oct. 23. "It is a secured journey all through Kurdish held territory. Hope to see you soon brothers. Rock steady."

A native of Wisconsin, Matson served in the US Army for two years — though never in combat — and is one of at least three Americans who have joined Kurdish forces, according to Reuters. He was wounded by a mortar soon after he arrived in Syria.