UK confirms citizen being held in wake of IS 'execution'
British journalist pictured at end of video that appears to show man beheading American journalist Steven Sotloff.
LONDON
Britain said Wednesday it will look at “every possible option” to protect one of its citizens thought to be held by the Islamic State (IS) following the release late Tuesday of a video purported to show the beheading of another American journalist at the hands of the militant group.
The British journalist is pictured at the end of the video, two weeks after 31-year-old Steven Sotloff - the latest U.S. journalist to be seemingly killed - was pictured at the end of a video that appears to show a man with a seemingly British accent beheading fellow American James Foley.
Speaking after a meeting to discuss the situation, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr. Sotloff.”
He added that preliminary analysis of the latest video suggests it is genuine, and that the apparent executioner "appears to be the same person with an apparently British voice that appeared in the last video.”
In the video broadcast Tuesday - although there is no suggestion as to when the video was actually made - the man says: “I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State... despite our serious warnings.”
Since Foley's apparent death, U.S. forces have continued to carry out airstrikes against advancing IS forces in Iraq.
The images are similar to the first video - the journalist kneeling in an orange jump suit, the apparent executioner standing next to him, his face covered with only his eyes showing - but the titles and apparent victims are different: "A message to America" features Foley - seized by armed men in northern Syria in 2012 - while "A second message to America" features Sotloff, seized in Syria last year.
After both videos conclude with the men appearing to be beheaded, they cut to an image of a second man - Sotloff kneeling in the first, and in the second the British journalist.
“The life of this... citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision," the man says.
Hammond said Wednesday that the government was doing everything it could for the family of the British hostage, who has asked that his name not be released.
He added that the new developments would not change Britain's “overall strategy” in the region, underlining that the government had been aware of the existence of a British hostage for some time.
"We will look very carefully at the options available to us to support the legitimate government of Iraq and [Iraqi] Kurdistan in defending themselves from the threat of ISIL [Islamic State] and if we judge that air strikes could be beneficial, could be the best way to do that, then we will certainly consider them but we have made no decision to do so at the moment."
Fighters from the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who already control parts of Syria, captured the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in June and then surged across the north, taking control of a number of predominantly Sunni cities.
Governments worldwide have been quick to condemn the actions of IS, France saying late Tuesday that the beheading "reveals the despicable nature of this jihadist organization that fights freedoms and only knows terror."
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has said that his thoughts and prayers were with Sotloff’s family and friends.
"As I have said consistently over the last few weeks, ISIL terrorists speak for no religion. They threaten Syrians, Iraqis, Americans and British people alike and make no distinction between Muslims, Christians or any other faith."
Britain's foreign secretary admitted Wednesday that a previous rescue attempt for the British journalist had taken place but failed.
Reporter beheaded by Islamic State is US-Israeli: Reports
Steven Sotloff, the American journalist purportedly executed by the self-styled Islamic State militant group held Israeli – as well as U.S. – citizenship, Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday, according to an Israeli newspaper.
"An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Sotloff was a dual American-Israeli citizen," Israeli daily Haaretz reported, without providing further details.
Yedioth Ahronoth, another major Israeli newspaper, reported Wednesday that Israeli authorities had "cleared for publication" the fact that Sotloff "was Jewish" and had "lived in Israel."
On Tuesday, the militant group released a video claiming to show the beheading of Sotloff, 31, in retaliation for recent U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.
In the video, the executioner also threatens to kill a British captive – who he identified as David Haines – if the U.S. did not halt its attacks.
Sotloff, a freelance journalist, was said to have been kidnapped last year in Syria by the Islamic State.
The video appeared some two weeks after another one that purported to show an Islamic State militant beheading U.S. journalist James Foley.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Sotloff had moved to Israeli in 2005, where he studied foreign relations at Israel's private Interdisciplinary Center.
"Little information regarding his time in Israel is known," the report asserts.
"After he was captured in Syria, it seems any connection to Israel was deleted from his online presence in a bid to prevent the information reaching his captors," it adds.
The Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, has recently managed to capture large swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
Early last month, the U.S. began launching "limited" airstrikes in areas of Iraq now controlled by the group.
*Anadolu Agency correspondents Inci Gundag in London and Hajer M'tiri in Paris contributed to this report.
