The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) has executed a group of its own fighters in the Syrian border town of Hajin, an Iraqi tribal leader told Diyaruna on Wednesday (June 13th).

"We have received information from tribal sources and eyewitnesses in Hajin that ISIS has shot to death about 30 of its men there," said Sheikh Qatari al-Samarmad, a commander in the tribal forces in Anbar province.

The executioners have "thrown their bodies in the Euphrates River, and the current swept some of the bodies to the outskirts of the neighbouring city of al-Qaim" in Iraq's Anbar province, he said.

The slain ISIS elements, who include some foreign fighters, had been charged with various crimes by their own leaders, he said.

These included "neglect to perform duties, disobeying of orders and disclosure of information and secrets about the group", al-Samarmad said.

The assassinations expose the collapse in ISIS's ranks, the despair and frustration many of them are experiencing, and reveal that rank-and-file fighters are rebelling against their field commanders, he said.

ISIS remnants hole up in Hajin

Since early May, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been engaged in fierce fighting to drive ISIS from Hajin, a town to the north of Albu Kamal.

The town "today hosts ISIS's last remaining elements", al-Obeidi said, adding that most remaining fighters are those who fled Iraq with their families.

Hajin's roughly 7,000 households suffer from a shortage of food and fuel, and face difficult conditions due to fierce fighting and an ISIS blockade, he said.

Only a few families have been able to escape this situation and take refuge with the SDF or with Syrian regime forces, which now control Albu Kamal, he said.

Iraqi forces are heavily deployed on the border to prevent the infiltration of ISIS fighters from Syria as a result of the continued pressure on them, al-Obeidi said.

"Iraqi aircraft regularly carry out focused strikes on ISIS bases in Hajin in co-ordination with international coalition forces," he added.

On June 7th, Iraqi forces pounded an ISIS "command and control" base in the Hajin area where leaders and fighters had assembled, he said.

The strike, the latest in a series of cross-border raids, "achieved its objectives and the base was completely destroyed", according to an official statement.