Dressed in black and walking through the ruins of what is said to be the besieged town of
Kobani, a man who identifies himself as British hostage John Cantlie speaks to camera to deliver a foreign correspondent-style report.
It's not known when the roughly five and a half minute video, which was posted on social media by militant group Islamic State, was recorded.
The film begins with what is said to be an aerial view of the battle-ravaged border town filmed from a drone, with an opener graphic, in both English and Arabic reading 'INSIDE 'AYN AL-ISLAM' which changes the Arabic name of Kobani from Ayn al-Arab.
With the black and white Islamic State flag flying in the corner of the screen, a pulsating circle appears, identifying the position of Cantlie.
"Hello, I'm John Cantlie and today we're in the city of Kobani, on the Syrian-Turkish border. That is, in fact, Turkey right behind me," he says, pointing to the dusty hills in the background.
"We are here in the heart of the so-called PKK safe zone which is now controlled entirely by the Islamic State. Now the Western media and I can't see any of their journalists here in the city of Kobani have been saying recently that Islamic State are on the retreat," he adds.
On Wednesday (October 22), Paul Cantlie, John's father died of "complications following pneumonia," his family said.
Earlier this month, speaking from a hospital bed through a voice box, 81-year-old Paul Cantlie called on IS to allow his son to return home safely.
The group has already beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker.
Cantlie, a photo journalist, was captured in northern Syria in November 2012.
He had previously been taken hostage in July, 2012 along with Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans while working near the Syrian border with Turkey.
They were released the same month after a group of "Free Syrian Army"fighters freed them.
Cantlie told media after his release they were threatened with death unless they converted to Islam, and both were shot and slightly wounded when they attempted to escape
Gains against Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot made up of Arab and foreign fighters, are often fragile even with the support of U.S. air strikes on militant targets in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
The United States led nearly a dozen air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq on Sunday and Monday, including the besieged Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, according to the U.S. military.
The man who identifies himself as Cantlie says there doesn't seem to be any groups, other than Islamic State, in the city.
"Good old John Kerry doesn't seem to think the Mujahideen are retreating he called Kobani a horrible example of the unwillingness of people to help those who are fighting the Islamic State. That's a dig at Kurd-hating Turkish president Erdogan. But the point is, from where I'm standing right now I can see large swathes of the city, I can even see the Turkish flag behind me and all I've seen here, in the city of Kobani is Mujahideen, there are no YPG, PKK, or Peshmerga in sight," he said.
The United States said it had air-dropped medical supplies and weapons to Kurds in Kobani provided by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a move Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticized on Wednesday (October 22) because Islamic State fighters managed to seize some of the weapons.
"Kobani is now being reinforced by Iraqi-Kurds who are coming in through Turkey, while the Mujahideen are being resupplied by the hopeless United States airforce who parachuted two crates of weapons and ammunition, straight into the outstretched arms of the Mujahideen," the man who identifies as Cantlie says, giving some clue as to when the video may have been filmed.
Reuters is unable to independently verify the content of this video which was obtained from a social media website.
Islamic State has declared a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East and is determined to redraw the map of the oil-producing region.
Iraqi Kurdish officials and a member of the Kurdish administration in Syria said the peshmerga had been due to head to Kobani via
Turkey on Sunday but their departure had been postponed.
Iraqi Kurdish forces will not engage in ground fighting in the Syrian town of Kobani but provide artillery support for fellow Kurds there, a Kurdish spokesman has said.
Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani for over a month, pressing on despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters.
REUTERS
To watch Rima Assaf's report, please click on the VIDEO above
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