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Iraqi forces have pressed a counter-attack on Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit.

The fanatical jihadists waging war across Syria and Iraq have already horrified the world with their mass shootings and the discovery of a “death pit” where they hurl victims’ bodies.

Now they have employed a cruelty many centuries old — crucifixion.

The fiends of ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL) publicly hung nine men on crosses at the weekend in Syria.

In a reflection of the complex and terrifying forces wreaking havoc across the region, the jihadists’ victims were not soldiers of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime; they were fellow rebels, who are fighting both the goverment and ISIS.

NEW MENACE RISING IN IRAQ

News of the killings come as, over the border in Iraq, fears are emerging that the Shiite Muslim militias raised to fight the Sunni ISIS forces are just as brutal as their foes — with no escape for those caught between.

Bloody insurgency ... fighters from ISIS march in Raqqa, Syria. Source: AP

The crucifxions came amid fierce clashes on the outskirts of Damascus between ISIS and other anti-Assad rebels, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“ISIL executed eight men in Deir Hafer in the east of Aleppo province” on Saturday because they belonged to rebel groups that had fought against the jihadists as well as Assad’s forces, it said. The group then “crucified them in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days.”

Also in Aleppo province, a ninth man was crucified for eight hours as a form of punishment in Al-Bab town near the border with Turkey.

He survived the ordeal.

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The news came as ISIL continued its bloody push into Iraq, where the Sunni group is bent on destroying the deeply-divided nation’s Shia government.

Iraq’s security spokesman has said hundreds of soldiers have been killed since the insurgent offensive was launched on June 9, while the UN puts the overall death toll at over 1,000, mostly civilians.

However, the militias that have sprung up in response to the attacks appear to be just as terrifying as the extremists they are fighting.

Abu Mustafa, a resident of Baquba, 60km north of Baghdad, described his flashpoint city as being caught between two fearsome forces.

Horrifying ... this image appears to show ISIS militants leading away captured Iraqi soldiers dressed in plain clothes after taking over a base in Tikrit, Iraq. Source: AP

“We have Da’ash on one side,” he told the Guardian, using the colloquial word for ISIS. “And we have Asa’ib ahl al-Haq on the other. I don’t know who to be more scared of.”

Asa’ib ahl al-Haq is said to be one of the most powerful Shia militias in Iraq, and always present wherever government forces are clashing with ISIS.

‘NO ONE WILL STAND UP TO THEM’

They have become so important to the official fightback effort that some say the government is afraid to stand up to them, leaving the shady militiamen free to wreak their own brand of sectarian havoc.

In Baghdad’s southern suburb of Dora, the Guardian reports that several Sunnis have been killed in recent weeks after being seized on the streets.

One man, who retrieved his nephew’s body earlier this week after he was kidnapped by the side of the road last week, said Asa’ib had been responsible for killing him.

“They are operating right under the nose of the government and no one will stand up to them. Only Asa’ib can do that. It is clear who did this.”