ISIS Video Shows Tikrit Executions, Warns Iraqi Soldiers Face the Same

Film Also Shows Seized US-Made Tanks and Humvees

In a move aimed at further lowering the morale of Iraq’s struggling military, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has issued a 30-minute video showing their fighters rampaging through Tikrit, and executing dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers.

The video goes on to warn Iraqi soldiers who continued to fight the ISIS advance will face the same treatment, as the dozens of executed soldiers are thrown into a pit.

Other than the executions, the video shows ISIS fighters in US-made Humvees and flat-bed trucks, and even rolling around in small tanks seized during the capture of Mosul last month.

The quick loss of major cities to ISIS did serious harm to Iraq’s military’s morale, and the video will doubtless make matters worse, though it may also fuel more sectarian anger, particularly among Shi’ite militias who increasingly dominate the defense of Iraqi territory north of Baghdad.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.