US Unable to Confirm ISIL Beheading of American in Syria

The United States is aware of a video that depicts an American getting beheaded by ISIL in Syria but lacks the capacity to validate its legitimacy, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States also could not confirm, Toner added, if the victim had been fighting with anti-ISIL Kurdish forces.

"We are aware of this video… [but] we don’t have any way to confirm the veracity,” Toner said on Monday. “We don’t have ‘eyes on the ground’ in Syria, certainly [not] in northern Syria,” he explained.

ISIL fighters are notorious for their extreme violence, including mass executions, stoning of women and the beheading of foreigners, including journalists.