The situation was dire. Jihadists were hiding inside a two-story house with twenty hostages, 12 of which are about to be put to the torch. As such, an airstrike was out of the question. 

The ISIS butcher is said to be one of the most hated terrorists in Syria, taking pleasure in burning his victims alive using a flamethrower. He commanded such fear from his victims that if he captures them they would beg to be shot instead.  

With time running out, a staff sergeant leading one of the SAS team proposed an alternative: shoot through the wall. A British SAS sniper then positioned himself more than a mile from his target with a direct line of fire and was flanked by three of his colleagues equipped with armor-piercing rounds.  

The shooter himself was armed with a Barret Light .50 caliber rifle, a gun with a range of more than a mile; can pierce armor, and is able to destroy aircraft and lightly-armored vehicles. Easing himself for the kill, the sniper took his shot aiming at the jihadist's flamethrower strapped on his back.

The bullet connected and in a fraction of a second, the extremist was engulfed in flames killing him and three of his flunkies who were there to film the execution. Left with no one to command the rest of the insurgents, they flee their position enabling the SAS team to move in and rescue the hostages.

It's reported that 20 civilian lives have been saved by the team, 12 that were about to be executed and eight who were supposed to be used as suicide bombers.  

The rescue operation comes just months from another SAS sniper kill where the soldier took out two ISIS car bombers with a single bullet. The extremists were said to have been headed towards Libya when the sniper opened fire. The bullet passed through the driver's skull and went straight through the neck of the passenger sitting on the back seat.

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