Islamic State fighters stormed a town in Iraq's western Anbar province on Saturday, killing at least 19 policemen and trapping others inside their headquarters, officials said.
Islamic State's self-declared police force in western Syria decapitated four men after accusing them of blasphemy, a rights group monitoring the Syrian conflict said on Saturday.
With a civil war that has torn the country apart and the Islamic State taking oppressive control of towns and cities, there is much cause for sorrow in Syria.
Wealthy nations have agreed to receive more Syrian refugees in the coming months after countries neighbouring conflict-torn Syria admitted they were struggling to cope with the numbers crossing their borders.
The United States and partner nations have conducted 20 air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, the US Central Command said on Friday.
A report by Amnesty International today strongly criticises the international response to the Syrian refugee crisis, and has called on Western governments to offer more places for people who have been displaced.