Probe to identify French-speaking man in IS video

France has launched an investigation to identify a French-speaking man who was featured in a video released by the Islamic State (IS) terror group purporting to show the execution of an Arab Israeli person.

According to investigation officials, the man is believed to be Sabri Essid, who has close links to French jihadi gunman Mohamed Merah, the killer of three soldiers, three students and a teacher in southern France in 2012, The Local news portal reported on Friday.

In the video, a youth identifying himself as 19-year-old Mohammed Said Ismail Musallam is shown kneeling in front of a boy who appears to be no more than 12. A man stands at his side.

Musallam is dressed in an orange jumpsuit and speaks about how he was recruited by Israeli intelligence.

The man standing nearby, speaking in French, warns the Jews in France, before the boy walks around in front of the hostage and shoots him in the forehead.

The boy, shouts "Allahu Akbar" and shoots Musallam four more times as he lies on the ground.

Known to intelligence services as a key figure in the radical Islamist community in the city of Toulouse, Essid is suspected to have left France for Syria in 2014.