Daesh 'executes' Chinese, Norwegian hostages as bastion pounded

BEIRUT — The Daesh terror group said Wednesday it had killed a Chinese and a Norwegian hostage, as French and Russian air strikes on its Syrian stronghold were reported to have left dead 33 fighters.

Moscow announced its warplanes were "hunting" Daesh oil tanker trucks in Syria, a day after saying a "terrorist attack" brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.

Those deaths and the shootings and suicide bombings in Paris were claimed by the Daesh terror group, which declared a self-styled "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria last year.

On Wednesday, Daesh said it had killed the two hostages from China and Norway.

Its English-language Dabiq magazine featured graphic photos of two bodies that appeared to be Chinese hostage Fan Jinghui and Norwegian Ole-Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad.

A stamp-like caption overlaid on the full-page photo read, "Executed after being abandoned by the kafir [disbeliever] nations and organisations."

It was unclear when, where, or how they were killed, but their heads were bloodied by apparent gunshot wounds.

The Norwegian prime minister's office said the photos "seem to show that the hostage Ole-Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad was executed. We are still verifying it."

The two hostages were last featured in Dabiq's September edition, in which Daesh published an "advertisement" announcing that each of them was "for sale".

Daesh in 'civilian homes' 

Since Sunday, Russian and French raids have struck arms depots, barracks and other areas in Raqqa city, the extremists’ stronghold in northern Syria.

"This is where we must hit Daesh, in its lifeblood," said French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

A preliminary death toll by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said 72 hours of strikes "left 33 dead and dozens wounded in IS [Daesh] ranks".

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the toll was relatively low because "the jihadists had taken precautions", including moving families of foreign fighters to Mosul, Daesh's relatively "safer" Iraq bastion.

Russia said its air force had destroyed some 500 fuel trucks in the past "few days" transporting oil from Syria to refineries in Iraq — a key part of Daesh financing.

The Pentagon said Moscow warned Washington of its impending attacks on Raqqa. This was to avoid any US planes in the area being endangered, spokesman Peter Cook said, which "wasn't necessary in this case".

Aktham Alwany, a journalist and activist from Raqqa, said civilians in the city were "only moving around when necessary" out of fear of strikes by "whichever nationality — Russian, regime, coalition".

"Unfortunately, it's no secret that Daesh's bases are inside civilian homes. There are some bases that look like they're for Daesh, but in reality they're empty fakes, while civilian homes are teeming with them," Alwany told AFP.

Raqqa was Syria's first provincial capital lost by the government, seized by rebels in 2013 then overrun by Daesh in January 2014.

At least 300,000 people live there now, according to analyst Fabrice Balanche.

Daesh’s speedy expansion sparked a US-led air coalition to begin targeting it in both Iraq and Syria, with French strikes on the latter beginning in September.

Moscow launched its own air war in Syria, in coordination with President Bashar Assad, on September 30.

Despite their diametrically opposed stances on Assad, France and Russia agreed to coordinate their military and security services to fight Daesh after the attacks in Paris and the downing of the Russian civilian airliner. 

France's top diplomat said Wednesday that aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle will be operational in the eastern Mediterranean "by the end of the week". 

And US President Barack Obama praised Russia as a "constructive partner" in international talks in Vienna aimed at reaching a solution to Syria's bloody conflict, which has cost 250,000 lives. 

The US and France have been firm backers of Syria's uprising, while Russia and Iran remain staunch allies of Assad. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be "simply unacceptable" to set Assad's departure as a precondition to "fight against terror". 

Although profound policy differences remain, Daesh's attacks have shifted international focus on to the extremist group. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said Ankara "has plans" for a joint operation with the United States to root out Daesh's presence along its border with Syria. 

And Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, said engaging with Assad was a "lesser evil" and necessary to reach peace. 

Late Tuesday, Al Qaeda's Syria affiliate and key Daesh rival, Al Nusra Front, said it had downed two Russian reconnaissance drones over an airbase it controls in northwestern Syria.

If confirmed, it would be the first time opposition groups down a Russian aircraft in Syria.