Alibaba Bigger Than Facebook On Market Debut

Alibaba Boss Like A Rock Star At 'Epic' IPO

Updated: 7:22pm UK, Friday 19 September 2014

By Hannah Thomas-Peter, New York Correspondent

As Jack Ma swept past me on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, I asked him how he was feeling.

He smiled at me, waved and mouthed "ok" before turning to a bank of cameras trained on the founder and spiritual leader of Alibaba.

"Ok," felt like a bit of an understatement.

Such was the demand and volume associated with the Alibaba IPO it took nearly two-and-a-half hours for the New York Stock Exchange's designated market maker (DMM) to decide on the right opening price.

The DMM is a person, not a computer. In this case it was Barclays' Glenn Carell.

He was also the DMM for the Twitter IPO, and is responsible for gauging appetite and supply, honing in on the right opening price for a stock.

It's a big job.

If there are technical problems he can override the system and trade on paper.

If there's uncontrollable volatility he can use his company's own cash to step in and stabilise things.

He told Sky News: "This is a very exciting day for me.

"It's the biggest IPO ever, and we really want to get the best price for opening.

"We have to go slow and get it right."

As traders crowded in on Glenn communicating orders from clients, electronic requests also poured in from across the world, flashing up on screens in front of his team.

Over two hours the price indicator range, which helps investors know how much the shares will cost once trading begins, crept from around $80 to over $90.

"Investors really want this stock," said Meridian Partners trader Jonathan Corpina.

"They see a very well-diversified company with huge international exposure.

"Even if US investors don't know the brand name, the product is easy to understand, and it's a good one."

As Glenn yelled "we're getting close!" the traders bunched together like rugby players in a scrum, whoops rang out, tension rose.

"Come on Glenn what's the price? Close it, close it," muttered one trader, his electronic trading tablet buzzing and beeping with impatient clients.

"$92.70!" came the shout, and trading began, starting with a short-lived 'pop' up to $99, before settling back down in Glenn's predicted range.

"Phew" said one NYSE executive to another.

"I tell you, that was pretty epic."

Glenn looked relieved as trading continued smoothly, confessing he would be having a glass of champagne later that evening.

Jack Ma may well do the same.

As he left the exchange to get in to his car, it was as if a rock star had left his concert.

Fans yelled and screamed and cheered and photographed for all they were worth.

Ma waved, smiled and slipped in to a waiting SUV.

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Kerry Says Iran Has A Role in Defeating IS

The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

Updated: 7:53am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Islamic State Releases Turkish Hostages In Iraq

Forty-nine Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's President described as a covert rescue operation.

The hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the captives were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

President Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

IS fighters in Mosul, Iraq. File image

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances, but added the released was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

The group is still holding British hostage Alan Henning

Sky's Senior Correspondent Ian Woods said: "It seems that some sort of deal must have been done because these are people, unlike the Western hostages, journalists and aid workers, these were people who were not in the country of their own volition.

"To describe this as something co-ordinated by the intelligence service suggests that a deal has been done. It was described as a rescue mission, but we should not think of this as such because is it unlikely they could rescue all 49 people without casualties."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to the IS threat.

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

Islamic State has killed two US journalists and a British aid worker who were working in Syria in retaliation for airstrikes that Washington launched against them in Iraq.

Mr Cantlie was seen in an IS video

IS is still holding two British hostages which it captured in Syria who have appeared in videos released by the group.

A group of Muslim scholars has made a direct appeal to the group to release hostage Alan Henning.

In a video message posted online, the men told the 47-year-old's captors that killing him would be against Islamic law.

Mr Henning, a taxi driver from Salford, was delivering aid in Syria when he was captured in December near the town of al Dana.

A video released on Thursday showed British journalist John Cantlie, who is also believed to be held by IS.

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New IS Video Shows Another British Hostage

British Muslims Plea For 'Mercy' For UK Hostage

Updated: 8:39am UK, Thursday 18 September 2014

British Muslim leaders have united to call for the Islamic State extremist group to release the UK hostage Alan Henning.

They have urged the militants to show mercy to the 47-year-old from Salford, and to let him go unharmed.

The father of two travelled to Syria with charity workers in December, but was kidnapped and now faces beheading at the hands of the terrorist dubbed Jihadi John.

The intervention came as a friend of Mr Henning, who was on the same aid convoy, made a direct appeal to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, to show "compassion and mercy".

In the video the man describes travelling "several times" to Syria with Mr Henning.

"On all occasions, we - your Muslim brothers - brought him with us under our care and protection," he says.

"Alan was so moved by the suffering of the Syrian people, in particular the children, that he devoted all his free time in raising money and awareness about their suffering.

"He washed cars to raise money, he collected aid, he talked to everybody he met about crimes committed against the Muslims in Syria."

More than 100 Muslim leaders have signed a statement to IS pleading for Mr Henning's release, and branding them "monsters" for the brutal murder of fellow hostage David Haines.

In a letter published in the Independent newspaper, they said: "We, the undersigned British Muslim Imams, organisations and individuals, wish to express our horror and revulsion at the senseless murder of David Haines and the threat to the life of our fellow British citizen, Alan Henning."

They said those holding Mr Henning hostage must accept that what they are doing is against the Koran and "constitutes the worst condemnable sin".

The Muslim Council of Britain was among the signatories.

Dr Shuja Shafi, the council's Secretary General, said: "Such a man should be celebrated, not incarcerated. Taking such people hostage, and murdering them, are against the principles laid out in the Qur'an and our Prophetic traditions."

It comes as new footage shows Mr Henning en route to Syria, saying it is "all worthwhile" to make sure aid gets to where it is needed.

Mr Henning, a taxi driver, was kidnapped within 30 minutes of crossing from Turkey into Syria.

He had volunteered to drive an ambulance full of medical aid as part of a community-funded charity trip organised by volunteers from Bolton and the UK Arab Society.

It is believed he was abducted by IS in Al Dana, a town 38km (24 miles) from Aleppo.

Reports suggest he was separated from Muslim counterparts by masked men.

Friends who travelled with him said they made desperate attempt to get him freed before returning to the UK.

The man in the video appeal describes Mr Henning's commitment to raise as much money as he could for refugees of Syria's civil war.

The YouTube appeal was partly co-ordinated by Cage - a group campaigning against the so-called "war on terror".

Emotionally overwhelmed at the end of the video, the man urges IS leader al Baghdadi to "please, please, please, release Alan."

"He has no affiliation with any political agenda," he says.

"Show him compassion and mercy as he showed compassion and mercy to Muslims of Syria."

Mr Henning appeared at the end of the video released on Saturday in which Mr Haines was beheaded by IS - with a threat that he would be next.

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Cantlie Video: New Tactic From Islamic State

I've never seen a hostage video like this before. Neither have the people I've spoken to with experience of these things.

It is surreal and it represents a new tactic from Islamic State.

As we have come to expect from this organisation, it is professionally filmed, and from a number of camera angles.

There are few clues as to John Cantlie's location, save for a faint noise, perhaps a car horn, suggesting he might be in a town.

He has shaved dark hair and a trimmed goatee beard. His arms are resting on the table, his hands interlocked, he appears relaxed.

This video differs from previous ones in a number of ways:

There is no violence and none threatened.

Mr Cantlie appears by himself, none of his captors are to be seen.

He is indoors not in the Syrian desert.

John Cantlie

But what is common to all the recent videos, is the use of a hostage to spread the IS message and to question western policy.

Mr Cantlie appears calm, his words deliberate and his tone at times almost jaunty.

In previous videos, Islamic State have addressed President Obama or David Cameron. This video addresses the public directly.

Mr Cantlie delivers the words perfectly, suggesting he is reading off a script or reciting from memory.

There is no obvious sign that he is under duress but he confirms he is still a hostage and so we must assume he is being forced to do this.

Towards the end, he teases us, the viewer, with the promise of future appearances.

"Join me for the next few programmes and I think you may be surprised at what you learn," he says. It is delivered in the manner of a daytime television presenter.

Although this is a new approach from Islamic State, unfortunately it doesn't necessarily confirm that the group has abandoned the tactic of beheading hostages.

At 3 minutes, 16 seconds, the video fades to black.

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Obama's Syria Plan Clears Sceptical Senate

President Obama's plan to train and equip "moderate" Syrian rebels has passed Congress, despite misgivings among lawmakers.

Syrian refugees crowd a Turkish border fence on Thursday

The Senate backed the measure by 73 votes to 22, a day after it was approved by the House of Representatives.

Leaders of both parties are backing Mr Obama's strategy to help Syrian insurgents take on the Islamic State extremists, but the rank and file in each chamber expressed grave reservations.

"Intervention that destabilises the Middle East is a mistake," said Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

"And yet here we are again wading into a civil war."

A jihadist gunman looks at bottles of perfume at a shop in Raqqa, Syria

Democratic Alaska Senator Mark Begich said he also disagreed with Mr Obama's strategy, adding: "It is time for the Arab countries to...get over their regional differences."

The administration dispatched its top officials to Capitol Hill for a second day to assure lawmakers there would be no US troops fighting in the Middle East.

The Pentagon chief is the latest official to rule out ground forces

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told a House panel that Mr Obama "is not going to order American combat ground forces into that area".

Secretary of State John Kerry told another committee the administration appreciated the danger of a "slippery slope". 

Focusing lawmakers' minds, the Islamic State paraded their latest hostage on Thursday.

They released a video showing a British journalist, who they said he was their prisoner.

The extremists have already beheaded three Westerners after capturing a third of Syria and Iraq.

A protester is removed as the Defence Secretary testifies before the House

The group also took over 21 villages in northern Syria this week, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The House approved the Obama proposal by 273-156 on Wednesday.

Republicans, usually stalwart antagonists of the president, backed the measure by more than double the margin of his war-weary Democratic allies.

The Islamists took 21 Syrian villages this week, sparking a refugee exodus

The plan, which is an amendment to a short-term spending bill, does not include the $500m (£300m) the White House says it needs to arm and train the rebels.

The idea is that US troops will train Syrian rebels at camps in Saudi Arabia, a process that could take a year, say military officials.

Defence officials have said they expect to recruit and train about 5,000 non-extremist rebel fighters.

But lawmakers have expressed doubt this will be enough to take on the Islamic State, who the CIA estimates can muster up to 31,000 fighters.

Mr Obama's strategy is to use American warplanes to help Kurdish peshmerga fighters and national forces in Iraq and the rebels in Syria do the fighting on the ground.

Fears of mission creep were raised two days ago when the nation's top military leader, General Martin Dempsey, raised the possibility of US ground troops eventually fighting in Iraq.

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Obama Again Rules Out Iraq Combat Role For US

President Barack Obama has reiterated there will be no US combat troops in Iraq, a day after his top general raised that very possibility.

Mr Obama spoke upon receiving an update from military chiefs at US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, about the US campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State militants.

"The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission," he told troops at MacDill Air Force Base.

"They will support Iraqi forces on the ground as they fight for their own country against these terrorists.

President Obama and US Central Command chief, General Lloyd Austin

"As your commander in chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq."

Army General Martin Dempsey told Congress on Tuesday he might recommend to the president that US troops fight alongside Iraqi forces if the current strategy of airstrikes failed to break the Islamic State group.

Since last month, the US has conducted more than 160 airstrikes to weaken the extremists.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the group must be stopped "end of story"

Mr Obama plans to rely on US air power as well as Iraqi and Kurdish forces and the Syrian opposition to carry out the fight on the ground.

The House of Representatives approved by 273-156 Mr Obama's request for authority to equip and train "moderate" Syrian rebels to take on the Islamic State.

Testifying before a Senate committee on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State forces "must be defeated. Period. End of story."

A displaced Iraqi child displays his drawing at a refugee camp in Irbil

US Vice-President Joe Biden, meanwhile, appeared to leave the door ajar for US combat troops, as he visited Iowa.

Asked about Gen Dempsey's remarks, he said: "We'll determine that based on how the effort goes."

But Iraq's new prime minister said foreign ground troops were "out of the question".

Haider al Abadi, who took office this month, said: "Not only is it not necessary, we don't want them. We won't allow them. Full stop."

Shia fighters, who have joined the battle against IS, train in Najaf

However, Gen Dempsey, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that half of Iraq's army is incapable of working with the US to recapture territory from Islamic State.

Only 26 of 50 Iraqi army brigades were capable partners for the US, he said, as he flew to Paris for a meeting with his French counterpart.

The others were too dominated by Shias to be part of a credible national force, he added.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State has released a video warning the US that fighters await it in Iraq if troops are sent there.

Islamic State fighters have seized large parts of Iraq and Syria

The 52-second clip, entitled Flames of War, shows fighters destroying tanks, wounded US soldiers and others about to be killed.

It ends with a text overlay that reads "fighting has just begun".

The CIA estimates the Sunni militant group has somewhere between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told NC News the Islamic State militants want to "kill humanity".

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US General: Half Of Iraqi Army Not Capable

Around half of Iraq's army is incapable of working with the US to recapture territory from Islamic State (IS) in western and northern Iraq, according to the top US military officer.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that military teams that spent much of the summer in Iraq assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the security forces found that only 26 of 50 army brigades were capable partners for the US.

Gen Dempsey, a former wartime commander of US training programmes in the country, described them as well led and well equipped, adding: "They appear to have a national instinct, instead of a sectarian instinct."

These would still need to be partially rebuilt with US training and more equipment, he added.

The other 24 brigades were found to be too dominated by Shias to be part of a credible national force.

Shiite fighters, who have joined the battle against IS, train in Najaf

Gen Dempsey was speaking with reporters travelling with him to Paris, where he met with his French counterpart for talks on the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and other issues.

The trip followed on from Gen Dempsey's appearance in front of a Senate panel, when he said US ground forces could be deployed again in Iraq.

His remarks were soon contradicted by the White House's spokesman however, who said President Barack Obama "will not deploy ground troops in a combat role into Iraq or Syria".

Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al Abadi, has also said foreign ground troops are neither wanted nor needed in the country's fight against IS.

Meanwhile, the group has released a video warning the US that fighters await it in Iraq if troops are sent there.

Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in a security deployment against IS

The 52-second clip, entitled "Flames of War", shows fighters destroying tanks, wounded US soldiers and others about to be killed.

It includes a clip of Mr Obama saying combat troops will not return to Iraq, ending with a text overlay that reads "fighting has just begun".

Renewed US efforts to train Iraqi troops could revive the issue of gaining legal immunity from Iraqi prosecution for US troops who are training them, Gen Dempsey said on his way to France.

The last Iraqi government refused to give immunity to US troops who might have stayed behind as trainers after the US military mission ended in December 2011.

Gen Dempsey also warned that US firepower alone would not be enough to stop IS.

Islamic State fighters have seized large parts of Iraq and Syria

The solution, he said, hinged on the formation of an Iraqi government that is able to convince Kurds and Sunnis that they will be equal partners with the Shiites.

The US launched airstrikes on IS last month, and Gen Dempsey said fighters from the extremist group will have reacted to the strikes by making themselves less visible.

He predicted they would "literally litter the road networks" with improvised explosive devices in the days ahead.

That would then mean more counter-IED training and equipment for Iraq's army, Gen Dempsey said.

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IS Planned Beheading In Australia, PM Says

Fears supporters of Islamic State were planning to kidnap a random person and carry out a "demonstration killing" prompted Australia's largest ever anti-terror raids, the prime minister has said.

Asked about reports that the planned attack involved a plot to behead a person in Sydney, Tony Abbott said: "That's the intelligence we received.

"The exhortations - quite direct exhortations - were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL (also known as IS or ISIS) to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country.

"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have."

More than 800 police officers were involved in the raids

More than 800 officers took part in the operation which saw at least 15 people detained and one charged with a serious "terrorism-related" offence.

The suspects had purchased machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues and planned to record the killing to be released on social media, Australia's ABC News reported. 

Pictures in the Australian media showed a sword being removed from one of the properties

The early morning raids of homes and businesses in Sydney and Brisbane came just days after Australia raised its national terror threat level to "high" for the first time, citing the likelihood of terrorist attacks by Australians radicalised in Iraq or Syria.

A suspect is detained by armed police during the operation

One of the suspects arrested made a brief appearance in court on Thursday.

Prosecutors said Omarjan Azari - who is charged with conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist attack- was involved in an alleged plan to "gruesomely" kill someone, an attack that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public.

Court documents accused the 22-year-old of conspiring with former Sydney nightclub bouncer Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, who is suspected to be Australia's most senior member of IS in Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said the charge followed from the interception of a phone call made in recent days.

A police forensic expert gathers evidence at a property in Sydney

Police have also issued an arrest warrant for Baryalei.

Sydney is home to around half of Australia's 500,000 Muslims, with the majority living in the western suburbs where the raids were carried out.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the operation showed the reality of the threat facing Australia.

He said: "You know it is of serious concern that right at the heart of our communities we have people that are planning to conduct random attacks.

"Today we work together to make sure that didn't happen. We have disrupted that particular attack."

Australia, which is due to host the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in mid-November, is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with Islamist militant groups.

Police chiefs said the operation highlighted the reality of the threat

Mr Scipione said: "Our police will continue to work tirelessly to prevent any such attacks but certainly can I stress that right now, is a time for calm.

"We don't need to whip this up.

"We need to let people know that they are safe and certainly from our perspective we know that the work this morning will ensure that all of those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted."

Up to 160 Australians have either been involved in the fighting in the Middle East or actively supporting it, officials said.

At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a national security risk, the head of the country's spy agency said when raising the threat level last week.

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The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

The group has made rapid territorial advances across Iraq and Syria

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

British aid worker David Haines was taken hostage and killed by the group

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

The group has also taken taxi driver Alan Henning hostage

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

Militants have released videos depicting mass executions

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Syrian Politician Warns US Over IS Action

The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

Updated: 7:53am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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General: US Ground Troops Possible In Iraq

America's top military leader has said US ground forces could be deployed again in Iraq, three years after they left the country.

Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel that he would make the recommendation if the US strategy of airstrikes fails to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants. 

"To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president," said Gen Dempsey, using another name for the terrorist group.

Tuesday's Senate hearing was disrupted by anti-war protesters

Asked to expand, he said he "would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of ground forces".

The four-star general said they could be sent to provide close combat advice or accompany Iraqi troops on any future mission to recapture the Iraqi city Mosul from the militants.

His remarks were soon contradicted by the White House's spokesman, who said commander-in-chief President Barack Obama "will not deploy ground troops in a combat role into Iraq or Syria".

Aid worker Alan Henning (centre right) has been threatened with death by IS

The president has already sent more than 1,000 US personnel, but they are said to be serving purely in an advisory role to help Iraqi troops tackle the IS forces.

On Tuesday, US warplanes stepped up their offensive against the IS in Iraq. 

Two airstrikes were launched against sites northwest of Irbil and three southwest of Baghdad.

British hostage David Haines was beheaded by his captors

American jets also pounded targets southwest of Baghdad in two raids on Sunday and Monday.

French warplanes flying from the United Arab Emirates have meanwhile begun reconnaissance missions over Iraq.

Gen Dempsey also told senators the US was ready to strike the extremists in Syria.

"This will not look like 'shock and awe' because that is not how ISIL is organised," he said, "but it will be persistent and sustainable."

He appeared alongside Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who warned the war would not be easy or brief.

An Islamic State gunman in Raqqa, Syria

"Victory is when we complete the mission of degrading, destroying and defeating ISIL," the Pentagon chief testified.

The Senate hearing was repeatedly disrupted by anti-war protesters. 

House of Representatives lawmakers are considering the Obama administration's request for $500m (£300m) to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels.

However, Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed doubts about whether it is possible to identify moderates in a war zone riven by rival factions.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, meanwhile, has said the UK Government was doing all it could to save British hostage Alan Henning, and warned it would not be deterred from its goal of "crushing" the Islamic State fighters behind his abduction.

Mr Henning, an aid convoy volunteer, appeared at the end of an IS video released on Saturday in which fellow UK hostage David Haines was killed, with a threat that he would be next.

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The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

The group has made rapid territorial advances across Iraq and Syria

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

British aid worker David Haines was taken hostage and killed by the group

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

The group has also taken taxi driver Alan Henning hostage

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

Militants have released videos depicting mass executions

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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US Takes Fight To Islamic State Militants

American warplanes have struck an Islamic State target southwest of Baghdad as the US stepped up the offensive against the terror group.

The US military said it carried out two airstrikes on Sunday and Monday in support of Iraqi forces being attacked by militant fighters.

The action reflects the expanded mission authorised by President Barack Obama to go on the offensive against the extremists.

Previous strikes had been of a defensive nature, while these were in direct support of Iraqi troops battling the militants.

Aid volunteer Alan Henning (centre right) pictured before he left for Syria

The development comes as British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK Government was doing all it could to save British hostage Alan Henning, and warned it would not be deterred from its goal of "crushing" the Islamic State fighters behind his abduction.

Mr Henning, an aid convoy volunteer, appeared at the end of an IS video released on Saturday in which fellow UK hostage David Haines was killed, with a threat that he would be next.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Hammond said he understood Mr Henning's family were "going through hell", and that the Government was doing everything possible to protect him.

But he said the SAS had not been sent in to rescue Mr Henning because it was not clear exactly where he was being held.

British hostage David Haines was beheaded by his captors

Mr Hammond was speaking after a summit in Paris where world leaders agreed to provide military aid to fight the extremist network.

The meeting of 30 countries agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Prime Minister David Cameron has said Britain would seek United Nations support for any such plans.

He said the backing would be an important part of the blueprint for dealing with the extremists, who have seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

It is still unclear whether Britain will join in US airstrikes against IS in Syria, with ministers refusing to rule it out, but insisting no decision had been made.

The PM wants UN backing for plans to fight Islamic State

The Government is currently arming Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting IS in Iraq and providing other support in the country.

Mr Cameron has vowed to hunt down the "monsters" who killed Mr Haines, and said his murder would "strengthen our resolve" to smash the extremist network.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been urging allies - especially Middle East and Gulf states - to show a united front, and one American official said several Arab countries had offered to join the airstrikes.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei revealed he had received a request from the US to join the fight against IS, but said he had rejected it because of Washington's "unclean intentions".

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Ebola: US Sending 3,000 Troops To West Africa

The US is sending up to 3,000 troops to West Africa to co-ordinate the response to the ebola outbreak.

The virus has claimed more than 2,200 lives this year - mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

US President Barack Obama is set to outline measures to support overwhelmed local health services amid fears the outbreak could spread further.

Ahead of the announcement, unnamed administration officials revealed they would build 17 health care facilities in the region, each with 100 beds.

The US has already spent $100m (£62m) in response to the outbreak

The US will attempt to train 500 medical staff a week, provide health kits to hundreds of thousands of homes and educate communities on how to tackle the problem.

The cost of the aid will be $500m (£308m), the officials said.

It is expected to take two weeks to get US personnel on the ground.

Ebola, which has also reached Nigeria and Senegal, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients. There is no vaccine or approved treatment.

US ebola victims Dr Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol

Four Americans have been or are being treated for ebola in the US after evacuation from Africa.

The country's intervention follows demands for a stepped-up international response.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council, warning the virus could "set the countries of West Africa back a generation".

US efforts will include medics and corpsmen, engineers to help build treatment facilities and logistics specialists to assist in patient transportation.

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Australian Special Forces Join Fight Against IS

Australia will send 600 troops - including special forces - and 10 military aircraft to the Middle East to bolster international efforts to fight the "death cult" of Islamic State.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the commitment comes after a formal request from US President Barack Obama for partners in the global coalition against IS.

Mr Abbott said Australia's contribution would include 400 air force personnel and a further 200 military troops.

A contingent of special forces operatives is among those being prepared to assist Iraq's security forces, a statement from Mr Abbott's office confirmed.

Mr Kerry speaks at a press conference in Cairo on Saturday

The contingent could be deployed to the United Arab Emirates as early as this week.

"For some time now the Australian government has been considering how best to respond to the ISIL (Islamic State) movement at home and abroad," Mr Abbott told reporters in Darwin.

"I can advise that we have, within about the last 24 hours, received a specific request from the United States government to contribute forces to possible military action in Iraq.

"The government has decided to prepare and to deploy to the United Arab Emirates a military force, a military force that could, subject to further decisions, contribute to military operations inside Iraq."

It comes as the international community condemned the murder of British aid worker David Haines, who was beheaded by IS militants.

British aid worker David Haines has been murdered by IS extremists

The United States has been seeking to establish a global coalition to fight IS extremists in Iraq and Syria.

On Monday, an international conference will be held in Paris to address the ongoing crisis in Iraq and the threat from the Islamist group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sisi on Saturday as he continued to press the case for striking IS.

The Egyptian president told Mr Kerry that any global coalition should not just battle IS, but also other take on other terror groups.

On Friday Mr Kerry also held a two-hour meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Kerry met Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah last week

Speaking in Ankara, Mr Kerry spoke of a "broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States and others".

Key Arab allies last week promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants.

Some 40 countries have so far agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry says will be a worldwide effort to defeat the militants.

The US has already carried out more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq since early August, including a strike on Friday near the country's largest dam.

The CIA estimates Islamic State has as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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PM: We Will 'Hunt Down' David Haines' Killers

David Cameron has vowed that Britain will "hunt down" those responsible for the murder of British aid worker David Haines and bring them to justice.

Speaking from Downing Street after chairing a meeting of Cobra, Mr Cameron described Islamic State extremists as "monsters" who are part of a "fanatical organisation".

"We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice, no matter how long it takes," Mr Cameron said.

"David Haines was an aid worker. He went into harm's way, not to harm people but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need, from the Balkans to the Middle East.

"David Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was taken, held and brutally murdered at the hand of Islamic State sums up what this organisation stands for.

A man wearing black addresses David Cameron in the video

"They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense - Islam is a religion of peace."

Earlier in the day Mr Cameron held emergency talks with senior representatives of the military, the security services, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

He returned to Downing Street shortly after midnight when IS released a video which showed Mr Haines' death.

Government sources say the death will not change Britain's policy and Parliament will not be recalled.

But Mr Cameron said Britain's security depends upon taking action against the extremists.

Mr Haines has been described as a 'British hero' (Pic: Lance Baldwin)

"It must strengthen our resolve. We must recognise that it will take time to eradicate a threat like this. It will require, as I have described, action at home and abroad," he said.

"This is not something we can do on our own. We have to work with the rest of the world.

"Ultimately, our security as a nation, the way we go about our everyday lives in this free and tolerant society that is Britain, has always depended on our readiness to act against those who stand for hatred and who stand for destruction."

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

The footage of Mr Haines' death shows a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also includes a threat to kill a second hostage, later named as Alan Henning, who was a volunteer on an aid convoy.

In the video, Mr Haines looks into the camera and makes a statement, holding Mr Cameron responsible for his own "execution".

In the statement, which appears to have been made under duress, he said: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say 'no' to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

Mr Cameron returned to Downing Street for crisis talks

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "All the signs are that the video is genuine. We have no reason to believe it is not."

The aid agency that Mr Haines was working for when he was taken hostage in 2013 said it was "appalled and horrified" by the killing.

"ACTED strongly condemns with the utmost of force these crimes. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones," the agency said.

The killing comes just weeks after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded by Islamic State (IS). Those deaths were also filmed, and the videos were released on the internet.

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Global Push To Combat IS After UK Beheading

International efforts to combat Islamic State militants have taken on added urgency after the beheading of a British aid worker and the threat to kill a second UK hostage.

The brutal murder of David Haines comes amid moves to form a broad coalition against the terror group which has grabbed large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is attending a summit - spearheaded by French President Francois Hollande and Iraqi President Fuad Masum in Paris this morning - bringing together 30 countries to co-ordinate a response to the IS threat.

Prince Saud al Faisal, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, and representatives of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are among the delegates at the conference.

Ahead of the talks, Washington said several countries in the Middle East had offered to join airstrikes against the militants, while Australia said it would send aircraft and personnel and France announced it would begin reconnaissance missions over Iraq.

Mr Hammond and US Secretary Of State John Kerry arriving in Paris

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is under pressure to act following the killing of Mr Haines, has given no indication over whether he would commit military forces to airstrikes.

Video footage of the British aid worker's death showed a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also included a threat to kill a second hostage, Alan Henning, who was a volunteer on an aid convoy.

It follows the beheadings of two American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

Mr Cameron vowed to "hunt down" the "monsters" who killed Mr Haines, and said the crime would "strengthen our resolve" to smash the extremist network which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

He said the UK would seek to "mobilise the broadest possible support to bear down" on IS at the United Nations.

"This is not about British combat troops on the ground, it is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat," he said.

"As this strategy intensifies we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with this threat and keep our country safe."

Mr Cameron has vowed to 'hunt down' the 'monsters' who killed Mr Haines

Although former military chiefs are among those pressing for the UK to join airstrikes, Downing Street has ruled out any immediate recall of Parliament.

Explaining Mr Cameron's dilemma, Sky's Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "He tried to get a vote in Parliament last year on missile strikes on Syria.

"Thirty or so Conservative MPs voted against, as did Labour, and he lost the vote. He was humiliated.

"So he doesn't particularly want to go down that route again."

A central part of the plan is to engage Arab countries in the coalition

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is also in Paris and has been touring the Middle East to rally support, told CBS: "We have countries in this region, countries outside of this region, in addition to the United States, all of whom are prepared to engage in military assistance, in actual strikes if that is what it requires."

However, Iraq's president has said it is "not necessary" for Arab powers to join airstrikes against Islamic State.

Iran has dismissed the conference as "just for show".

Deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told state television: "What would interest Iran is a real fight against terrorism in the region and around the world, not this selective one."

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