By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

A video obtained by Jake Hanrahan and uploaded by VICE News on the 27th of April 2016 shows off spectacular footage taken by the headcam of an Islamic State fighter as he and his comrades fight their way to Peshmerga positions near Naweran while under heavy enemy fire. The attack, which took place North of Mosul, clearly shows the panic and chaos that occur while on the battlefield, a completely different picture from the one presented in the propaganda videos published by the Islamic State's media department, which almost exclusively shows well-trained and motivated fighters of the Islamic State defeating their opponents without any fear or regard to their own safety.

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans in collaboration with MENA_Conflict

An Islamic State offensive near Khanasir, Eastern Aleppo, managed to overrun several checkpoints in the area, resulting in the capture of large amounts of weaponry stocked there. The town of Khanasir, a dusty and deserted place, carries without a doubt the heaviest strategic weight on its shoulders of any town of its kind in Syria. The highway that runs through it is effectively the only access route to embattled Aleppo, and the Islamic State's advances mean that regime forces fighting in the city might soon be completely cut off for some time.