Al Qaeda Affiliate ISIL kills 50 hostages including media activists

More than 50 bodies were discovered in former base for radical State of Iraq and The Levant (ISIL) in Aleppo, it reportedly belongs to media activists affiliated to Al-Nusra Front, Shada Al Hurriya channel and other Islamist groups, who were kidnapped by ISIL recently, according to activists.

Syria is most dangerous country for media in 2013 where 19 journalists have been killed,   in addition at least 18 foreign and 20 Syrian journalists are believed to be missing in the country after being detained or kidnapped there, the International News Safety Institute (INSI) said, according to AFP.

ISIL has been accused of horrific abuses in areas where it operates, and also of seeking hegemony by taking key roads and checkpoints from its rivals.

Some Assad opponents have even accused it of serving regime interests.

Since Friday, along with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the nascent Mujahedeen Army, the Islamic Front has been engaged in fierce fighting with ISIS in rebel-held areas.

The latest clashes broke out Friday after residents accused ISIS members of killing a doctor in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.

The focus of combat has been in opposition areas in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, but Sunday spread to Hama and Raqqa provinces.

Scores of fighters have been killed on both sides. ISIL killed at least 50 rival rebels Sunday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing insurgents and medics, including seven “who were summarily executed by ISIS” in Harem, in Idlib.

ISIL is considered one of the most extremist and intolerant groups currently involved in the fighting against Bashar Assad, even in comparison to the other rebel group linked to al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The group’s gains have underscored growing infighting among rebel factions seeking to oust  Assad. A recent takeover of opposition warehouses by ISIL members spurred the US and UK to announce they would suspend the nonlethal aid they had been providing to Syrian rebels.

Overall the Syrian death total was down from 28 in 2012, but abductions of both foreign and local reporters increased, leading many international news organizations to stop sending journalists to cover the conflict.

Syria's armed uprising began as a series of peaceful democracy protests 33 months ago but escalated into a full-blown civil war after Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.

The conflict is estimated to have killed around 130,000 people and displaced millions more.