Islamic State video shows killing of 2 Syrian activists

John McCain, R-Ariz., said the Obama administration’s failure to contain the Islamic State not only shows fundamental flaws in the president’s foreign policy but also should force a reassessment into whether USA forces are being withdrawn from Afghanistan too quickly.

Both cities are strategically important, because they sit along a supply route on a main road between Raqqa, the city ISIS considers to be its capital, and the Turkish border.

United States-led coalition aircraft unleashed a wave of air strikes targeting the Islamic State group’s stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria in what the coalition said Sunday was one of its most sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria to date.

The video, which was posted Monday on an ISIS-linked Facebook page, shows two young men in orange jumpsuits who say they filmed and photographed ISIS-held areas in Syria and sent footage to a person overseas.

The network, called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at least one airstrike targeted a group of Islamic State members in the city center.

There were twelve strikes on IS targets near eight cities in Iraq. Air strikes at the weekend destroyed seven bridges over waterways in Raqqa, which is bordered to the south by the Euphrates river, it said.

Kurdish forces have in recent months been involved in heavy fighting against the Islamic State group.

In May, the militant group scored a stunning victory, overrunning Ramadi, the provincial capital of western Anbar province.

The Obama administration is reportedly considering creating a network of bases around the country to help accelerate training of Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters, which has lagged in recent months.

Zabadani’s capture would tighten Hezbollah’s grip on Syrian territories bordering Lebanon and strengthen the Syrian government’s control over of the Beirut-Damascus highway.

Zabadani has been held by rebels since shortly after Syria’s crisis began in March 2011.