Despite propaganda as "leaders of Muslims", Isil commanders are pragmatists, motivated more by money and power than religious ideologues, says former bodyguard.
The Isil commander felt no remorse for killing this Syrian family, his bodyguard said, nor did he believe he was fulfilling a God-given creed: for him being a member of the extremist group was a matter of business, not religion.
"Starting with a thirteen-year-old boy, they lined up the sons according to their height and beheaded them in that order," said the bodyguard, who called himself Abu Abdullah and who has now defected.
"Afterwards, they hung the boys' heads on the door of the school the family had been hiding in."