By . Simon Tomlinson . Four Syrian men were publicly executed by jihadist militants in an Iraqi town for allegedly spying for President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Rebels fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) brought the men to a main street in Al-Qaim, near Iraq's border with Syria, in a convoy of trucks on Sunday, witnesses said. One militant then announced that they were spies for Assad's regime, which ISIS is fighting in Syria, and the men, with their hands bound, were shot dead one by one. A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands guard as new equipment arrives at the Kalak refinery in Irbil, Iraq, as the Kurds try to ease a fuel shortage after ISIS militants laid siege to Iraq's largest oil refinery in the city of Beiji . Their bodies were taken away by ambulance and Dr Mustafa Shawqi from the Al-Qaim hospital confirmed the deaths, according to the AFP news agency. The report came as the Iraqi army launched a fresh assault today to try to retake the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, according to an officer and a soldier involved in the attack. The executions are the latest reportedly carried out in Iraq and Syria by ISIS militants who have gleefully documented their killings online with grisly photos of their victims, including some who have been beheaded. Militants seized control of Al-Qaim last month during a major jihadist-led offensive that has overrun swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad. A Shi'ite volunteer from brigades loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr keeps guard as he mans a machine gun during a military advance against ISIS on the outskirts of Samarra . According to the UN refugee agency, there are more than 4,500 Syrian refugees in Iraq's Anbar province, many of them at a camp near Al-Qaim. The new assault by Iraq's army on Tikrit is the latest attempt to re-capture the city, which fell on June 12 to Sunni insurgents led by the extremist Islamic State group. The army has been saying for two weeks that its forces are on the outskirts of the city. Tikrit lies 160km (100 miles) north of Baghdad. It is a stronghold of loyalists of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and ex-army officers who joined forces with Islamic State to take over large parts of north and west Iraq last month. Baghdad municipality workers clean the site of a car bomb in the Allawi neighborhood. Shi'ite militias are now fighting ISIS alongside the Iraqi army, but there have been few notable victories for the government . An officer and a soldier said the military attacked from the village of Awja, some 8km south of the city. The army retook Awja, the birthplace of Saddam, on the night of July 3, and has been trying to push north since. Heavy fighting broke out in the Shishin district of southern Tikrit, they said. Government forces retreated when Sunni insurgents overran Mosul on June 10 and swept south to seize Tikrit two days later. Shi'ite militias are now fighting alongside soldiers and police, but there have been few notable victories for government forces since they began a campaign late last month to seize back territory.
ISIS militants shot men in street in rebel-held town on Syrian border .
Comes as Iraqi army launches fresh attempt to retake city of Tikrit .
By . Simon Tomlinson . Four Syrian men were publicly executed by jihadist militants in an Iraqi town for allegedly spying for President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Rebels fighting for the Islamic State (ISIS) brought the men to a main street in Al-Qaim, near Iraq's border with Syria, in a convoy of trucks on Sunday, witnesses said. One militant then announced that they were spies for Assad's regime, which ISIS is fighting in Syria, and the men, with their hands bound, were shot dead one by one. A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter stands guard as new equipment arrives at the Kalak refinery in Irbil, Iraq, as the Kurds try to ease a fuel shortage after ISIS militants laid siege to Iraq's largest oil refinery in the city of Beiji . Their bodies were taken away by ambulance and Dr Mustafa Shawqi from the Al-Qaim hospital confirmed the deaths, according to the AFP news agency. The report came as the Iraqi army launched a fresh assault today to try to retake the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, according to an officer and a soldier involved in the attack. The executions are the latest reportedly carried out in Iraq and Syria by ISIS militants who have gleefully documented their killings online with grisly photos of their victims, including some who have been beheaded. Militants seized control of Al-Qaim last month during a major jihadist-led offensive that has overrun swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad. A Shi'ite volunteer from brigades loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr keeps guard as he mans a machine gun during a military advance against ISIS on the outskirts of Samarra . According to the UN refugee agency, there are more than 4,500 Syrian refugees in Iraq's Anbar province, many of them at a camp near Al-Qaim. The new assault by Iraq's army on Tikrit is the latest attempt to re-capture the city, which fell on June 12 to Sunni insurgents led by the extremist Islamic State group. The army has been saying for two weeks that its forces are on the outskirts of the city. Tikrit lies 160km (100 miles) north of Baghdad. It is a stronghold of loyalists of toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and ex-army officers who joined forces with Islamic State to take over large parts of north and west Iraq last month. Baghdad municipality workers clean the site of a car bomb in the Allawi neighborhood. Shi'ite militias are now fighting ISIS alongside the Iraqi army, but there have been few notable victories for the government . An officer and a soldier said the military attacked from the village of Awja, some 8km south of the city. The army retook Awja, the birthplace of Saddam, on the night of July 3, and has been trying to push north since. Heavy fighting broke out in the Shishin district of southern Tikrit, they said. Government forces retreated when Sunni insurgents overran Mosul on June 10 and swept south to seize Tikrit two days later. Shi'ite militias are now fighting alongside soldiers and police, but there have been few notable victories for government forces since they began a campaign late last month to seize back territory.
street in Al-Qaim, near Iraq's border with Syria, retake the militant-held northern Iraqi city of latest attempt to re-capture the city, which fell ISIS alongside the Iraqi army, but there have