According to an AFP dispatch on Friday, Islamist extremists executed 17 men recently in jihadi-controlled areas of eastern and northern, claiming that the killings were in retaliation for the losses they sustained at the hands of local opponents.

According to the news agency, which cited reports by activists in the region, the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) group “… executed 16 men in Deir Al-Zor and one more in Raqqa, to send a message to all their opponents after recent assassinations of 12 Syrian, Iraqi and Algerian jihadists.”

The executions were announced by the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman. The latter charged that only one of the executed men was actually linked to the assassinations.

“IS is sending a message to the people under its control, saying ‘this will occur to our opponents’,”.

The desert city of Deir Al-Zor and Raqqa are the two main urban areas controlled by ISIS in rebel-held Syria.