Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has released a propaganda video that appears to show Kurdish Peshmerga fighters trapped in cages on Iraqi streets. Although the authenticity of the video remains unverified, it bears striking similarity to other videos allegedly posted by the organization. The latest video shows 21 men in orange outfits being moved through the streets of an Iraqi city in pick-up trucks.
Speaking on a microphone with the ISIS logo, a man interviews the captives, many of whom identify themselves as Peshmerga soldiers from Kirkuk. In their message, they call on their fellow Peshmerga soldiers to give up fighting with the organization that is attempting to take control of Iraq and Syria.
One of the men in the video warns in Kurdish: "We say to the Peshmerga: Leave your jobs, or your fate will be like these, either the cage, or under the ground." The last scene in the film showed the captives alive, but it is unclear whether they are still alive. Bios of each prisoner have been superimposed into the video. One description suggests that one of the captives is an Iraqi army officer. The majority, however, are Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
The Peshmerga, who famously opposed Saddam Hussein's regime and sided with United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom, fight to protect Kurdistan, a semiautonomous area in northern Iraq. They have been battling ISIS and its attempts to establish an Islamic state across large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The footage, which is heavily edited, also contains several clips showing Christian Egyptians being beheaded in Libya. In response to the release of another video showing the Christians being brutally murdered, Egypt launched a series of airstrikes against supporters of the terrorist organization in a Libyan city near the border.
ISIS has increased its taking of foreign hostages in recent months. The number of foreign captives, however, is dwarfed by the number of Iraqis and Syrian dissenters that have been killed by the organization.
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