Obama-backed ISIL claims to have beheaded US journalist, holds another

ISIL Takfiri terrorists claim they have beheaded a US journalist, who had gone missing in Syria nearly two years ago, in reprisal for ongoing US airstrikes against their forces in Iraq.

The terrorist group posted a gruesome video on social media on Tuesday titled “A Message to America,” allegedly showing the decapitation of James Foley, 40, who was abducted by unknown gunmen on November 22, 2012. He had reported in the Middle East for five years.

The video shows a person, who appears to be Foley, dressed in an orange jumpsuit kneeling in the desert, while a masked man stands beside him.

“I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality,” the kneeling man said.

“This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen, of your country. As a government, you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State,” the masked man said with a British accent, using the name that the ISIL terror group took on after announcing a so-called caliphate in the swathes they have overrun in Iraq and Syria.

“Today your military air force is attacking us daily in Iraq. Your strikes have caused casualties amongst Muslims,” he added.

Seconds later, the masked executioner uses a knife to decapitate the man.

At the end of the disturbing video, words on the side of the screen said “Steven Joel Sotloff” as another hostage in an orange outfit is shown on screen. The US journalist went missing in northern Syria last July.

“The life of this American citizen, [US President Barack] Obama, depends on your next decision,” the masked man in the footage said.

The US intelligence community is working to determine the authenticity of the video.

“If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

The US military has attacked the ISIL militants inside Iraq after earlier this month President Obama authorized aerial attacks against ISIL targets in the Arab country.