While the US carried out air strikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq, the Sunni insurgents took control of several towns and villages from rival Islamist groups across the border in Syria.  It opens the way for the group to spread further to the west.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Islamic State’s (IS) latest gains include the towns of Turkmen Bareh and Akhtarin, which are around 50 kilometers northeast of Aleppo.  IS carried out two more crucifixions in the town of Deir al-Zor, bringing to 27 the number of people executed by that particularly gruesome method.

IS already controls vast amounts of territory in northern Iraq and Syria, where it claims to be a new Caliphate under Sharia Law. 

In Iraq, Islamic State has seized five oil fields and the country’s biggest dam, and it is now focusing on controlling yet another important economic weapons – Iraq’s wheat supplies.  The insurgents overran agricultural areas in five of Iraq’s most fertile provinces.  Militants raided government silos, milling the grain themselves and distributing the flour on the local markets.  It’s going to put pressure on food supplies in the south.

“Now is the worst time for food insecurity since the sanctions and things are getting worse,” said Fadel El-Zubi of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Iraq.