Reports vary, but forces with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) captured, stripped, and killed at least 200 Syrian government troops.

The Associated Press puts the number at 180, while the Daily Mail estimated the massacre, occurring in the last 24 hours, may have involved up to 250 victims. 

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Photos on-line show a column of young men stripped down to their underwear being marched into the Syrian deserts; other show the same men lying face-down in the dust, presumably after having been shoot execution-style. ISIS commonly uses such images as part of a psychological campaign to cow civilian populations and recruit new fighters. 

It is not known exactly where the mass-killing took place, but Twitter accounts reputed to be of Islamic State individuals pinpoint the mass killing to be near the town of Tabqa in northern Syria near the Eurphrates River. 

It was in this same region that American journalist James Wright Foley was believed to have been killed last week.

The move is indicative of the Islamic State's growing confidence in the region. In the past, they had avoided the troops of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but a series of ISIS strikes on military bases in the past weeks have resulted in the deaths of several of his forces. The Assad soldiers are believed to have been stationed at Tabqa Airforce Base, an installation now believed to be controlled by the Islamic State, despite heavy losses.

The Islamic State has also massacred religious and ethnic minorities in the region it controls, a territory extending from the outskirts of Baghdad to beyond the Eurphrates River in Syria. Neighboring Turkey has seen a continuous influx of refugees driven from their homes. 

Syrian officials in the capital of Damascus have not commented on the footage.

This latest incident comes as Western governments grapple with strategies as how to contend with the Islamic State, now considered an international threat. After having declared al-Assad a threat to Middle Eastern stability, American president Barack Obama now faces the ironical situation that any US involvement against ISIS will result in a further strengthening of al-Assad's power. 

TagsIslamic militants, massacre