Packed into two pickup trucks and a bus, the men were told they were being taken to see their families, but they were instead slated for execution.

Imad’s truck was the first to be unloaded, and he was the first in line. A militant took him by the arm.

He walked about 10 yards.

He was ordered to kneel down.

“I thought, ‘This is it, it’s over,’ ” he said as he recounted his ordeal from his home in the village of Safiya. “We’ve lived under the rule of Islamic State for more than two years, and we know that nobody survives such things.”

The gunmen opened fire.