One Big Question Surrounds The Murder Of US Journalist James Foley By ISIS In May 2013, GlobalPost President Philip Balboni released the following statement on behalf of himself and Foley�s parents: �We have obtained multiple independent reports from very credible confidential sources � that confirm our assessment that Jim is now being held by the Syrian government in a prison � under the control of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence service.
What is unclear is if previous investigations into Foley's whereabouts were inaccurate, if ISIS militants somehow captured Foley from some of the regime's most elite security, or if the Assad regime provided Foley to ISIS.
"Until recently, James Foley was thought to be in hands of pro-Assad forces. If Assad is handing over Westerners to ISIS to be killed, it indicates Assad feels cornered, looking for leverage," BBC's Kim Ghattas tweeted, adding that the assessment jibes with what her sources in Damascus have told her recently.
Ghattas added that Assad providing Foley to ISIS "would confirm Assad tacitly working [with] ISIS and silence any suggestions Assad is the better alternative. "
Assad and ISIS
Bashar al-Assad helped create ISIS by releasing many of its original members from Syria's notorious Sednaya prison on May 31, 2011. He then let the group metastasize over three years to build a narrative that if the U.S. wants to choose sides in the Syrian war, it has to choose between the regime and ISIS as both squeeze mainstream rebels.
"Assad first changed the narrative of the newborn Syrian revolution to one of sectarianism, not reform. He then fostered an extremist presence in Syria alongside the activists. Further, he facilitated the influx of foreign extremist fighters to threaten stability in the region. ...
"The Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) emerged as one of those facts created to ensure Assad�s survival as he and his Iranian backers seek to frame this conflict as a regional sectarian issue, with a classical choice between military powers and Sunni extremists."
