Obama Admits to Being Shaken, Emboldened by ISIS Beheading Videos

"I think it would affect anybody who has an ounce of humanity"

U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday he has personally watched the graphic videos of Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) hostages being executed, saying they have helped catalyze the global community’s revulsion to the militant jihadist organization.

In an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie airing Monday on Today Show, Obama said watching the videos has affected him personally. On Saturday, the U.S. government confirmed the authenticity of a video showing the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

“I think it’s fair to say that, anything related to these terrorist actions, I take a look at,” Obama said. “I think it would affect anybody who has an ounce of humanity. And it’s part of the reason why I think we’ve been so successful in organizing such a broad-based coalition.”

Referencing an American woman still being held by ISIS, Obama said the U.S. is doing anything possible to secure her release.

“Well, what we can say is that, as has been true of all the hostages, that we are deploying all the assets that we can, working with all the coalition allies that we can, to identify her location,” he said. “And we are in very close contact with the family trying to keep them updated.”

Hours after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Tom Frieden warned of the potential of a “large outbreak” of measles following increasing reports of the disease, Obama called on all parents to vaccinate their children.

“Measles is preventable,” Obama told Guthrie. “And I understand that there are families that, in some cases, are concerned about the effect of vaccinations. The science is, you know, pretty indisputable. We’ve looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren’t reasons to not.”

“You should get your kids vaccinated,” Obama continued. “It’s good for them and the challenge you have is if you have a certain group of kids who don’t get vaccinated, and if it grows large enough that a percentage of the population doesn’t get vaccinated and they’re the folks who can’t get vaccinated, small infants, for example, or people with certain vulnerabilities that can’t vaccinated, they suddenly become much more vulnerable.”

Islamic State reveals it has smuggled THOUSANDS of extremists into Europe

AN OPERATIVE working for Islamic State has revealed the terror group has successfully smuggled thousands of covert Jihadists into Europe.

The Syrian operative claimed more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen had been smuggled into western nations – hidden amongst innocent refugees.

The ISIS smuggler, who is in his 30s with a trimmed jet-black beard, revealed the ongoing clandestine operation is a complete success.

"Just wait," he smiled.

The Islamic State operative spoke exclusively to BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity and is believed to be the first to confirm plans to infiltrate western countries.

Islamic State, also referred to as IS and ISIS, is believed to be actively smuggling deadly gunmen across the sparsely-guarded 565-mile Turkish border and on to richer European nations, he revealed.

There are now more than 4,000 covert ISIS gunmen "ready" across the European Union, he claimed.

The operative said the undercover infiltration was the beginning of a larger plot to carry out revenge attacks in the West in retaliation for the US-led coalition airstrikes.

"If someone attacks me," he said "then for sure I will attack them back."

Islamic State extremists are taking advantage of developed nation's generosity towards refugees to infiltrate Europe, he said.

The lethal ISIS gunmen use local smugglers to blend in and travel amongst a huge tide of illegal migrants flooding Europe.

More than 1.5million refugees have fled into Turkey alone – desperate to escape the bloodshed in Syria.

From Turkish port cities like Izmir and Mersin, thousands of refugees venture across the Mediterranean aiming for Italy, he said.

Then the majority make for more welcoming nations like Sweden and Germany, turning themselves over to authorities and appealing for asylum.

"They are going like refugees," he said.

Two Turkish refugee-smugglers backed up the claims made by the ISIS Syrian operative.

One admitted to helping more than ten trained ISIS rebels infiltrate Europe under the guise of asylum seekers.

He said: "I’m sending some fighters who want to go and visit their families.

"Others just go to Europe to be ready."

The Syrian operative, a former member of his nation's security forces, said ISIS had ambitious plans ahead.

"It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world," he said "and we will have it soon, God willing."

The operative agreed to a meeting at the urging of a former Free Syrian Army gunman who fought alongside him in the war.

The Syrian said he had been granted permission to attend the meeting by his superior in ISIS — a radical referred to by members of the group as an "emir."

"There are some things I’m allowed to tell you and some things I’m not," he said.

During the meeting, the operative said he believed future attacks would only target Western governments – not civilians.

Although details of terror plot are something over which he has little control, he claims.

The jihadist told Western followers if they had the opportunity to "shed a drop of blood" in Western countries – then they should do so.

Spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani also praised the recent terror attacks in Australia, Belgium and France.

"We repeat our call to Muslims in Europe, the infidel West, and everywhere to target the Crusaders in their home countries and wherever they find them," he said.

"We will be enemies, in front of God, to any Muslim who can shed a drop of blood of a Crusader and abstains from doing that with a bomb, bullet, knife, car, rock or even a kick or a punch."

A Turkish foreign ministry official said authorities were actively working to clamp down on refugee-smuggling.

He pointed out that since Europe accepts few refugees through legal channels, the demand for smuggling has increased.

"Illegal migration has been an important issue and Turkey is effectively fighting against it," the official, who declined to be named, confirmed.

"Of course the most effective way to put an end to all these problems would be immediate action by the international community to solve the Syrian conflict."

When asked about the smuggling of Islamic State operatives in boats of innocent refugees, the anonymous official said his government was unaware of the plot.

"We do not have that particular intelligence," he said.

"Turkey has been taking very tight measures against [ISIS] with all the capabilities the government has."

ISIS claims beheading of Iraqi security personnel

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group beheaded an Iraqi police officer and a soldier, the latest in a long series of atrocities committed by the jihadists, according to pictures posted online Sunday.

In one photo, a blindfolded man said to be a police lieutenant colonel kneels in a street in front of a row of gunmen.

A masked militant is then shown beheading the victim with a machete, after which his severed head is placed atop his body and the machete driven into his back.

Another photo shows an overweight masked militant apparently struggling to behead a man identified as a captured Iraqi soldier.

The caption says a second soldier was also beheaded, but his death is not shown.

The authenticity of the photos could not be independently confirmed.

ISIS spearheaded a sweeping militant offensive in June that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad, and also holds significant territory in neighboring Syria.

The brutal militant group has killed thousands of people in both countries, some of them in highly-choreographed videotaped sequences in which the victims are beheaded.

Iraqi security forces, backed by Kurdish troops, Shiite militias, Sunni tribesmen and a U.S.-led campaign of air strikes, have managed to regain some ground from ISIS.

But the jihadists still control significant territory, including three major cities.

Isis 'throw man off a building for homosexual affair' and beat him to death when he survives

Isis militants allegedly threw a man charged with having an affair with another man off the top of a building and then beat him to death when he survived the fall, a human rights watchdog has claimed.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) quoted a source as saying the man was killed in the Tal Abyad town in Raqqa, an Isis stronghold. The Observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.

The man’s reported death follows a spate of executions within a 24-hour period earlier this month, which included two men accused of homosexual acts reportedly being thrown off a building. A series of photos were released via the “Information Office of the mandate of Nineveh” claiming to show militants administering 'hudud' (fixed punishments).

The images appeared to show the men at the top of a large tower overlooking Ninevah, a city in Iraq. One image showed a man falling towards the ground, where a large crowd appears to be controlled by a line of militants.

In December, Isis released a copy of their penal code, which listed so-called ‘crimes’ punishable by amputation, stoning and crucifixion. Some of the crimes included homosexuality and 'spying for the unbelievers', both of which were deemed punishable by death.

The Observatory reports the extremist group has executed 35 people in January alone in Syria, including 22 civilians.

On Friday, the Observatory said militants attempted to stone a woman to death in Raqqa on charges of adultery – but she apparently survived.

Sources said militants stoned her in al- Ferdos Street until they believed her to be dead, but the woman had actually survived and escaped the militants. One militant tried to shoot her but an Isis-appointed Sharia judge intervened, saying her “her sentence is done - let her go and repent to her God”, according to the SOHR.

The reported killing comes after Human Rights Watch lambasted the group in its annual report but also criticized the "sectarian and abusive" policies of the Syrian and Iraqi governments, saying they fuel extremism.