Samlingstråd för Islamiska Statens (IS) illdåd, brott mot mänskligheten

CNN)—A boy in a black knit cap stands in front of a man on his knees.
He locks eyes with the captive, brow furrowed, his gaze seething with anger. He lifts a pistol and shoots the man in the forehead.
The boy is a soldier for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria -- and he's not the only one.

The Sunni extremists of ISIS appear to be brainwashing an entire generation to create an army of impressionable young soldiers.

They lure or kidnap children and then train them to fight.

They force some children to give blood to injured fighters or to spy for them, and make others whip prisoners, human rights groups say.

Their plight raises questions that defy simple answers:

What future awaits these children if ISIS is ever to be defeated? Can anything be done to help them recover from the scars of war, or will Iraq and Syria face the prospect of a lost generation, paralyzed by the memories and atrocities of their youth?

Efter ett antal motgångar under våren drog många slutsatsen att Islamiska Staten var på väg att tappa greppet.
Den senaste veckans framgångar för IS visar att terrororganisationen är långtifrån slut.

Militanta från terrornätverket IS uppges ha tagit kontroll över största delarna av världsarvsstaden Palmyra i Syrien. Det är andra gången som IS tar kontroll över Palmyra.

Slaget om staden har pågått i flera dagar men IS drevs tillbaka under helgen. Då lyckades IS kontrollera området i ett dygn.

Enligt syriska regeringskällor har trupper lojala med president al-Assad och den syriska regimen retirerat från staden efter att de evakuerade så gott som alla civila från staden.

Under onsdagen har IS-trupperna avancerat och drivit regeringstrupper på flykt, berättar ögonvittnen.

Det finns en oro över vad som händer med de antika ruinerna i sydvästra Palmyra fall IS erövrar staden som finns på UNESCO:s världsarvslista.

- Situationen är mycket oroväckande. I fall bara fem IS-medlemmar går in i de gamla byggnaderna förstör de allting, säger den syriska regimens minister för antika ärenden Mamoun Abdulkarim.

CNN)—"They are everywhere."

That's a 26-year-old Syrian's stark observation about ISIS fighters in Palmyra, detailing the terrorist group's swift, destructive takeover of yet another city in the brutal quest to expand its caliphate in the Middle East.

The capture of Syria's ancient city threatens a UNESCO World Heritage Site described as having "stood at the crossroads of several civilizations," with its art and architecture mixing Greek, Roman and Persian influences, according to that U.N. group.

U.N. and Syrian officials have expressed fears that ISIS will destroy the ruins, just as it flattened the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and smashed statues in Iraq's Mosul Museum.

But Palmyra, also known as Tadmur, isn't just a historical site. It's home to tens of thousands of people, many of whom fear they'll meet the same fate as others ISIS has conquered.