BEIRUT — Islamic State has beheaded or shot 17 men in Syria in the past two days as it faces increasing attacks from unidentified gunmen in areas it controls, a monitoring group said on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of sources across the country to report on the war, said the spike in execution-style killings follows the killing of 10 Islamic State fighters in hit-and-run attacks in several areas around Deir Al-Zor province this month. Deir Al-Zor stretches from Raqqa to the border with Iraq and links Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in the two countries. Syrian state news agency SANA said on Thursday Islamic State executed three civilians and displayed their bodies in the town of Al-Mayadin. Islamic State fights in Syria against both forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad and rival insurgents in a war that is in its fourth year and which the United Nations says has killed 200,000 people. — AP
