John Cantlie Appears "Inside Aleppo" In New Islamic State Video

NEW DELHI: British hostage John Cantlie has appeared in yet another Islamic State video -- his ninth such appearance. Unlike other western hostages, who have appeared dressed in orange jumpsuits, kneeling at the feet of a militant dressed in black and threatened to be summarily executed (a promise the Islamic State has not reneged on), Cantlie continues to appear free, dressed in civilian clothing, with his life seeming unthreatened.

The latest video, “Inside Aleppo,” however, will be his last in the series, Cantlie says.

In the video, Cantlie gives a tour of the city, noting that it has been “smashed to rubble” by years of war -- initially by Syrian President Assad and now by US-led coalition forces. However, despite that, the city owing to the efforts of the Islamic State, has a “thriving economy,” Cantlie says.

One of the scenes in the video shows an apparent bombing of a marketplace, with Cantlie suggesting that the Syrian military was behind the attack. The bomb itself was preceded by a drone in the sky -- pointed out by Cantlie who said that the Syrian military does not possess drones. The drone therefore, must have been operated by the US-led coalition, Cantlie says, adding that it does not bother the mujahideen who have gotten used to such attempts at surveillance. “What’s going on?” Cantlie asks, “someone is working with someone,” he says.

In the last such video, Cantlie gave a similar tour of Mosul, claiming that life in Mosul, contrary to western reports that depict the city as decrepit, is stable. “The media likes to paint a picture of life in the Islamic State as depressed, people walking around as subjugated citizens in chains, beaten down by strict, totalitarian rule… But really apart from some rather chilly but very sunny December weather, life here in Mosul is business as usual,” Cantlie said.

Another video has shown Cantlie in the Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobani -- where the Kurdish forces recently declared a victory after months of battle against the Islamic State militants.

This latest video, however, appears soon after a video purportedly showing a captured Jordanian pilot -- Moaz al-Kasasbeh -- being burnt to death by the militants. Just shortly before that, a video showing the execution of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto -- whose fate was summarily tied to that of Kasasbeh -- was released. Previously, Goto had appeared in a video with another Japanese hostage, Goto made an appearance in a video with another Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, Yukawa was reportedly executed soon after.

The Islamic State has a number of foreign hostages, of which, in addition to Kasasbeh, Goto and Yukawa, American aid worker Peter Kassig, US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning have been the most prominent executions. These executions were recorded -- the men all dressed in orange jumpsuits -- and released by the Islamic State accompanied by messages directed to the UK and US for their role in bombing the militant group in Iraq and Syria.

John Cantlie continues to be the only exception to this brutal trend.