Islamic State Performs Beheadings and Crucifixions In Eastern Syria Push

In its push to conquer eastern Syria, the Islamic State jihadist group has reportedly beheaded two people and executed 23 others in the past five days, international media outlets report.

After conquering multiple cities in Iraq, the Islamic State reportedly began pushing into eastern Syria beginning last week, and now dominates a third of the country, mostly in its rural areas. During this border push, militants with the Islamic State reportedly clashed with members of the al-Sheitaat tribe, ultimately beheading two tribal leaders and executing another 23 victims, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Two other men were publically crucified in the city of Mayadin for "dealing with apostates," while another two were crucified in the city of al-Bulel, the Observatory, which monitors human rights abuses in the region, told Reuters.

The Islamic State, an off-shoot of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, has been making advances in Iraq since early June, after it declared a caliphate to overthrow Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Previously, the militant Islamic group has overtaken the city of Mosul, a historically-rich hamlet for Iraq's Christian population, as well as multiple villages in north Iraq occupied by the now-besieged Yazidi sect. The Islamic State has given similar orders to Christians and other religious minorities in the country: convert to Islam, pay a tax, or die.

The United States conducted multiple airstrikes on the Islamic State over the weekend, dropping 500-pound bombs on artillery convoys and a mortar. Both the U.S. and Great Britain have also conducted humanitarian air drops of vital goods, such as food and medicine, to the thousands of religious minorities trapped on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, where they have been forced to hide after being driven out of their homes by the Islamic State.