In First, IS Beheads Two Syria Women for 'Sorcery'

The Islamic State group has beheaded two women in eastern Syria accused of "witchcraft and sorcery", a monitor said Tuesday, in the jihadists' first decapitations of female civilians.

The extremist group has become infamous for gruesome executions and mass killings, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two women were the first female civilians to be beheaded by IS.

"The Islamic State group executed two women by beheading them in Deir Ezzor province, and this is the first time the Observatory has documented women being killed by the group in this manner," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Britain-based monitor said the executions took place on Monday and Sunday and involved two couples.

In both cases, the women were executed with their husbands, with each pair accused of "witchcraft and sorcery".

The Observatory said IS has previously decapitated the corpses of Kurdish female fighters during battles, and the jihadist group is reported to have stoned civilian women to death on allegations of adultery.

The monitor said the women and their husbands were killed in the city of Mayadeen in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which is mostly under the control of IS.

A video obtained by the Observatory, which the group has not distributed, reportedly shows a masked executioner in a tunic saying a prayer before beheading one man and his wife, who is wearing a full face veil.

Abdel Rahman said the two couples appear to have been accused after the jihadist group found them in possession of charms.

The use of amulets, charms and other folk religious practices is common in parts of Syria, particularly in the countryside, according to activists.

The charms are often written on a piece of paper sewn into fabric, and are intended to protect the recipient against bad luck or jealousy, or solve and prevent other problems.

But the practice is considered heretical and a form of "witchcraft" by IS, which imposes its harsh interpretation of Islam on the areas under its control.

The group is known for its brutality, often filming acts including beheading and throwing people from buildings.

It punishes people for "crimes" including homosexuality, adultery, smoking cigarettes and spying.

According to the Observatory, IS has executed more than 3,000 people in Syria in the year since it declared its Islamic "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq.

Nearly 1,800 of them were civilians, including 74 children.

It has executed more than 100 of its own members, mostly on allegations of spying, and often as they were seeking to escape the group, according to the Observatory.

The monitor also said Tuesday that IS has hung at least eight people from makeshift crosses in recent days as punishment for allegedly failing to fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

The eight were all strung up alive on crucifixes with placards attached to them accusing them of breaking the Ramadan fast "with no religious justification".

Among the eight were two minors, the Observatory said, adding that while it had documented eight cases, there might be others that have not been reported.

Observatory chief Abdel Rahman said the eight were hung from the crucifixes for a day and taken down afterwards still alive.

The jihadist group emerged in Syria in 2013 and initially sought to merge with Al-Qaida's local affiliate Al-Nusra Front. But after Al-Nusra rejected the merger, the group went its own way.