Daesh have beheaded four members of a football team in plain sight on the declaration that the sport is anti-Islamic. The players, Osama Abu Kuwait, Ihsan Al Shuwaikh, Nehad Al Hussen and Ahmed Ahawakh, represented Al Shabab de Raqqa and have many supporters.

The Islamic State accused the men of being traitors, spying for the Kurdish YPG, and the killings took place in a city square, in front of hundreds of people including young children. 

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Photographs of the the aftermath of the gruesome execution, together with pictures of three of the players lining up for their side in the days before ISIS invaded, were released in a series of tweets by protest group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

This is not the first attack on football by ISIS. Included in their campaign against the sport were the recent killings in the Real Madrid supporters clubs in Iraq.