Within a few days, the newly re-elected president Sepp Blatter announced that he would resign when a successor was elected. A reform committee was formed. Soccer, it seemed, would never be the same.

Early on Thursday morning, more or less the same thing transpired as a dozen more people were charged – some of them arrested at the Baur au Lac. Only this time, it feels more like business as usual. As the DoJ and the Swiss had promised, more of the many men on the take during the Blatter era were being rounded up. And the question immediately became what shockwaves would tremble through the sport this time around.

The DoJ confirmed to the New York Times that Alfredo Hawit of Honduras and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay were among the dozen arrested and charged. They are suspected of taking millions of dollars in bribes and the U.S. will seek extradition from Switzerland.

Hawit became president of CONCACAF (which encompasses North America, Central America and the Caribbean) after the last president, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, was indicted in May and placed under house arrest. His predecessor, Jack Warner, is fighting extradition to the United States after getting charged in May as well. Napout is the president of South America's CONMEBOL, whose two predecessors Eugenio Figueredo and Nicolas Leoz were also charged in May.

In the hours after this latest round of indictments and charges, it wasn't immediately clear what broader impact there would be. But U.S. Soccer quickly put out a statement saying that this summer's stateside Copa America Centenario, which is a joint CONCACAF and CONMEBOL tournament, won't be affected.

Yahoo News Special Report: Attorney General Lorett …Play video

"Today's events involving individual members of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL in no way pierce the integrity of the rigorous safeguards the United States Soccer Federation required before agreeing to host Copa America Centenario that ensure the tournament is organized and conducted in a way that is open, transparent and above reproach," read the statement.

"The new Executive Committee that was created to govern the tournament does not include these individuals and they were never in a position to make decisions that would adversely impact those high standards," U.S. Soccer added. "As the [Local Organizing Committee] for the tournament, the United States Soccer Federation remains fully focused on the organization and operation of Copa America Centenario, and conducting the tournament in the most professional and highly principled manner possible."

The 10 other individuals indicted have not been officially identified yet, but none of them are believed to be Blatter or his suspended secretary general Jerome Valcke.

In a statement, FIFA again said it would cooperate fully. "FIFA is aware of the actions taken today by the U.S. Department of Justice," it wrote. "FIFA will continue to cooperate fully with the U.S. investigation as permitted by Swiss law, as well as with the investigation being led by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General."

FIFA's Executive Committee was scheduled to hear the Reform Committee's recommendations on Thursday.

UPDATE

On Thursday afternoon, the DoJ announced that it had charged 16 new defendants with 92 counts in its "superseding indictment," including the current and former presidents of the Brazilian soccer federation and Rafael Callejas, the former president of the country of Honduras.

The DoJ also confirmed that Hawit and Napout, both Executive Committee members and Vice Presidents at FIFA, had indeed been charged. It alleged that there had been some $200 million in bribes since 1992. The Internal Revenue Service claimed it had traced funds through 40 difference countries.

The DoJ has received eight guilty pleas so far.

"The betrayal of trust that is set forth here is truly outrageous," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a press conference. "And the scale of corruption alleged herein is unconscionable. And the message from this announcement should be clear. To every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade this ongoing investigation: You will not wait us out. And you will not escape our focus."

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter@LeanderAlphabet.

Child executioners are shown in the video being forced to brutally slaughter a group of more than 25 regime soldiers.

The video shows the soldiers lined up on their knees on the stage of the Roman amphitheatre, which had formerly been used for an annual festival in the city.

A baying crowd of men and boys gathered in the restored ruin waiting for the slaughter, many wearing military uniforms and headscarves.

Scroll down for video

Harrowing footage: Child executions were forced to brutally slaughter a group of more than 25 regime soldiers in Palmyra

Soldiers: The child executioners were paraded into the amphitheatre when the condemned regime soldiers had been lined up on the stage on their knees

Stage set: ISIS lined the condemned regime soldiers up on the stage of the ancient amphitheatre, which was formely used for an annual festival in the Syrian city

Behind each condemned man stands a child executioner, all wearing desert camouflage and brown bandanas, many of whom appear to be no older than 12 or 13 years old.

ISIS fighters can be seen standing or sitting on top of the ancient ruins, watching over the crowd as they wait for the slaughter.

A leader speaks to the audience, in front of an enormous ISIS flag draped across the back of the stage.

Waiting crowd: The men kneeled along the stage with a giant ISIS flag hanging in the background

Condemned: The video shows the men being led into the amphitheatre, and includes close ups of each of their faces

ISIS take-over: Palmyra, which was captured by ISIS at the end of May, lies in the middle of the Syrian desert

On a command, the condemned soldiers are killed simultaneously with a shot to the head.

ISIS captured the historic city on May 21, and has been systematically destroying the city's treasured ancient monuments.

The group was accused of executing hundreds of people in and around Palmyra since it swept into the city in May, after a lightning advance across the desert from its stronghold in the Euphrates Valley to the east.

ISIS is known for using children – dubbed ‘caliphate cubs’ – as suicide bombers, soldiers and executioners in their attempts to instill fear across Iraq and Syria.

Authorities fear that the use of children as soldiers and suicide bombers will only increase in the coming months.

Militants have kidnapped more than 500 children in recent weeks, and Iraqi police chiefs fear the children will be brainwashed into joining the ISIS ranks.

The children were snatched from Iraq’s Anbar and Diyala provinces and taken to the group’s bases, so they can be trained for use in ‘terror attacks’, according to Iraqi authorities.

This is not the first such execution in the Roman amphitheatre in the ancient Syrian city.

Executions being carried out in the Palmyra amphitheatre were first reported on May 27 by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, less than a week after ISIS captured the city.

The extremists 'called people to watch' the executions of 20 local men in the amphitheatre at the end of May.

The murdered locals were accused of being government supporters, according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Line-up: The child executioners - many of whom appear to be no older than 12 or 13 - are paraded in the video in front of the condemned regime soldiers

Blood-thirsty: A baying crowd of men and boys gathered in the amphitheatre to watch the 'spectacle'

Support: Many wore military uniforms and headscarves while waving flags in support of ISIS

'ISIS executed 20 men by firing on them in front of a crowd gathered in Palmyra's Roman theatre, after accusing them of fighting for the Syrian regime,' Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP at the time of the executions.

He added: 'ISIS gathered a lot of people there on purpose, to show their force on the ground.'

ISIS reportedly carried out more than 200 executions, including of civilians, in and around Palmyra in the period when it captured the city.

At the time, Syria's antiquities director Mamoun Abdelkarim said he feared the killings could signal the start of 'the group's barbarism and savagery against the ancient monuments of Palmyra'.

'Using the Roman theatre to execute people proves that these people are against humanity,' he told AFP.

The Greco-Roman ruins at Palmyra are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city's capture by ISIS prompted international concerns for the fate of its spectacular ancient treasures.

ISIS has regularly released videos of its mass executions, with slick production and gruesome violence that experts say is a key propaganda tool for the group.

UNESCO has condemned the jihadists' destruction of antiquities in the Syrian city of Palmyra, describing it as an attempt to strip the people of their heritage in order 'to enslave them'.

Adult fighters: The condemned men were led into the stadium by gun-wielding ISIS fighters, but many of the executioners appear to be teenagers

Expectant: A blood-thirsty crowd of men and boys gathered to watch the brutal executions, while watched over by ISIS fighters sitting and standing atop the restored ruins

'These new destructions of cultural goods of the site of Palmyra reflect the brutality and ignorance of extremist groups and their disregard of local communities and of the Syrian people,' said Irina Bokova, UNESCO director-general.

Among the antiquities lost so far is the Lion Statue of Athena, destroyed at the end of May, which was more than three-metres high.

Also known as the Lion of Al-Lat, it dated back to the first century AD and is one of the most significant treasures to have been destroyed within the city.

The destruction of the lion came just days after ISIS gathered Palmyra’s citizens together and publicly promised not to harm the city’s ancient buildings.

But the fighters insisted that they would ‘pulverise’ any statues they discovered in the city that they believed citizens secretly prayed to.

The limestone statue was discovered in 1977 by a Polish archeological mission at the temple of Al-Lat, a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess.

'The destruction of funerary busts of Palmyra in a public square, in front of crowds and children asked to witness the looting of their heritage is especially perverse,' she said.

'These busts embody the values of human empathy, intelligence and honour the dead... Their destruction is a new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history, to deprive them of their cultural roots in order to better enslave them,' she added.

She urged action against the 'manipulation of religion'.

ISIS's harsh version of Islam considers statues and grave markers to be idolatrous, and the group has destroyed antiquities and heritage sites in territory under its control in Syria and Iraq.

THE TREASURED SYRIAN CITY OF PALMYRA - 'THE VENICE OF THE SANDS'

Miraculously preserved: Before the ISIS take-over, the desert city of Palmyra was ranked on the world's 10 best Roman ruins, and was the greatest Roman city in the Middle East. The Roman amphitheatre in the ancient city is one of the best examples of the miraculous preservation so treasured in the city

The historic city of Palmyra, which has been described as the ‘Venice of the Sands’, is a vast expanse of Roman ruins in the middle of the Syrian desert.

It was the greatest Roman city in the Middle East, and before the take-over of ISIS, was ranked as one of the 10 best Roman ruins in the world.

But now it has become a stage for ISIS brutality, as pictures emerge of bloodied bodies scattered among the arches and columns that line the city’s streets.

Palmyra’s fall to ISIS has huge resonance in the West because the Unesco World Heritage Site and jewel of the Middle East – which only recently was visited by thousands of tourists every year – could be reduced to rubble at any moment.

Named for the forest of palm trees that flank it, the oasis city has provided refuge for desert-travellers for nearly 4,000 years.

Just 130 miles north-east of the Syrian capital Damascus, the city is a staggering and unique combination of Roman and Middle Eastern architecture.

At risk: The Triumphal Arch across the main street of
Palmyra, in the Syrian desert

Some of the treasures of the city include the Temple of Bel, which ranks among the most important buildings of the ancient world and was the religious centre of Palmyra; the elaborately-decorated Triumphal Arch across the city's main street; and the frescoes at the Hypogeum of the Three Brothers, dating from the second century AD.

But in the eyes of ISIS, the architectural and artistic gems are simply the artefacts of infidels, representing false and offensive idols.

‘It is the birthplace of civilisation,’ Irina Bokova said of the city.

‘It belongs to the whole of humanity and everyone today should be worried about what is happening.’

Kevin Butcher, professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Warwick, added: ‘Like Venice, the city formed the hub of a vast trade network, only with the desert as its sea and camels as its ships.’

The Romans took the site in the first century AD under the Emperor Tiberius.

Soon the city became one of the international market places of the world, with imports and exports across the Empire, as far afield as Hadrian’s Wall in the north, Spain in the west, India in the east and Libya in the south.

Palmyra’s amphitheatre, built soon after a visit from Emperor Hadrian in AD 129, is one of the best examples of the miraculous preservation that is so treasured in the city.

Harry Mount, written for Daily Mail. Harry Mount's Odyssey — Ancient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus is published by Bloomsbury in July

File photo of Muslim students holding a prayer before a rally against Islamophobia at San Diego State University in San Diego, California, November 23, 2015. REUTERS/Sandy Huffaker

DEARBORN, Mich. (Reuters) - Muslim Americans fear their religion will be demonized and Islamophobia will spread after a young Muslim couple was accused of carrying out one of the bloodiest mass killings in the United States.

Across the country, Muslim Americans responded with shock and outrage after a shooting in which authorities said Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, stormed a holiday party attended by San Bernardino County employees in California on Wednesday, killing 14 people and wounding 21. [nL1N13S0HF]

"I was at the gym yesterday while the shooting was taking place and all the TVs were showing that footage and all I could keep thinking to myself is 'God, I hope they don't have any Eastern descent, not just Middle Eastern, anything we'd associate with a Muslim'," said Adam Hashem, 32, in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with one of the country’s largest Muslim populations.

"We're all worried. We're all concerned,” he said.

It was the deadliest U.S. mass shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre three years ago. While the motivation remained unclear as authorities investigated the attack, details of Farook and Malik began to emerge. Farook was described as a second-generation American born in Illinois and raised by Pakistani parents. Malik was born in Pakistan and lived in Saudi Arabia until she was introduced to Farook.[nL1N13S0B3]

San Bernardino police said they found pipe bombs and several thousands rounds of ammunition at the residence of the couple, who died in a shoot-out with police.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Attari Supermarket bustled on Thursday with customers shopping for Middle Eastern products.

"In every culture and in every religion there are bad apples that will spoil the rest of the apples. That has happened toward us," said Dawod Dawod, a 25-year-old Muslim American, who manages the store that his family has owned for a decade.

Between taking orders over the phone, Dawod said he was concerned that politicians will use the mass shooting as a way to further demonize Muslims. He noted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's endorsement of the idea of creating a Muslim database. "It's scary." he said. "Ninety-nine percent of Muslims are hardworking, good people."

Muslim community groups condemned the massacre and urged the public not to blame Islam or Muslims.

"The Muslim community stands shoulder to shoulder with our fellow Americans in repudiating any twisted mindset that would claim to justify such sickening acts of violence," said Hussam Ayloush, an executive director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Within hours of the shooting, his group had organized a news conference with Los Angeles Muslim leaders and the brother of suspected shooter Malik to condemn the assault. The speed at which they went on live television underlined the depth of concerns in a community already buffeted by a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric this year and increased public scrutiny after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State militants.

Some Muslims say they have felt singled out during a U.S. presidential race that has tapped a vein of anger and bigotry - from comments by Trump to those by fellow Republican candidate Ben Carson, who said in September Muslims were unfit for the presidency of the United States. There are some 2.8 million Muslims in the country.

“HORRIFIED”

Some Muslims questioned whether this week’s shooting will embolden supporters of Trump, who is current front-runner to be his party's nominee in the November 2016 election and who has backed the idea of requiring all Muslims living in the United States to register in a special database as a counter-terrorism measure.

Critics have also accused Trump of stirring resentment toward Muslims by asserting that he saw thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. That claim has been disputed by public officials.

Faizul Khan, 74, an Imam at the Islamic Society of the Washington Area, said he was “horrified” by the San Bernadino shooting. “Unfortunately people don’t understand that we as Muslims, we basically want to promote what is good and just for the entire humanity.”

He said he feared the shooting would strengthen calls to increase surveillance on mosques.

Achraf Issam, 22, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association in Silver Spring, Maryland, said it makes no more sense to say that Islam led to the San Bernardino shootings than to say Christianity led to an attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last week by a suspect police have named as Robert Lewis Dear.

"No one should say that because this couple is Muslim that it led them to commit those acts," he said.

That sentiment was echoed by Sara Nabhan, 20, a junior majoring in biology at the University of Houston who was born in Jordan and came to Texas when she was 2 years old.

“Two people’s actions do not constitute a whole population’s actions," she said.

Jersey City real-estate agent Magdy Ali, 52 and of Egyptian descent, said he uses the name Alex when working to avoid conflict with people who distrust Islam. He said he expects Trump to use Wednesday's massacre to push for anti-Muslim measures such as monitoring of U.S. mosques.

"We are in a jam right now," he said.

(Additional reporting by Ruthy Munoz in Houston, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Ian Simpson in Washington, Mary Wisniewski in Chicago and Barbara Liston in Florida; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Frances Kerry)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, casts her vote at the German Federal Parliament in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec.4, 2015. Parliamentarians have to vote whether Germany will join the international alliance in their fight against the Islamic State group militants in Syria. The German government plans to send Tornado reconnaissance planes, tanker aircraft and a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

German lawmakers on Friday overwhelming approved a broad non-combat mission to aid the coalition fight against the so-called Islamic State, including reconnaissance jets and a frigate, following a call from France for support following last month’s attacks in Paris.

The 134 million euro ($145 million) mission will see two Tornado reconnaissance planes sent to Turkey’s Incirlik base as early as next week as part of a plan crafted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet earlier this week. The frigate is already en route to join French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

"The goal... is to fight and contain IS, and destroy their safe havens and their ability to lead worldwide terror operations," Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Berlin on Thursday before heading to Ankara for talks with her Turkish counterpart to talk over logistics and other details.

She also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to talk about the stationing of German troops there and other aspects of the deployment, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

The mission comes after Merkel agreed to honor a request from France in the wake of the attacks in Paris to provide support for its operations against IS in Syria.

Parliament voted 445 in support of the plan and 146 against with seven abstentions.

In total, Germany plans to send up to six Tornado reconnaissance planes, a tanker aircraft and a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier, but won't actively engage in combat.

A maximum contingent of 1,200 soldiers was also approved, who will serve as support troops in Turkey and elsewhere, including at headquarters operations in Qatar and Kuwait.

French President Francois Hollande on Friday visited the Charles de Gaulle, France's only aircraft carrier, which was dispatched to the region a week before the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 in Paris.

It’s been launching raids against Islamic State bases as part of the U.S.-led coalition’s strikes against the group.

The French carrier had previously been deployed in the Persian Gulf from February to April this year, conducting between 15 and 20 flights per day, according to the French military.

British jets flew their first missions as part of the coalition’s efforts on Thursday, striking oil fields in eastern Syria that help finance IS.

Meantime, an effort to create a united front on Syria ahead of peace talks early next year, Saudi Arabia will host Syrian opposition groups and many of the main rebel factions seeking to oust President Bashar Assad.

Saudi Arabia is a main backer of the opposition groups and next week’s three-day meeting is the first it has hosted since the outbreak of the nearly five-year civil war.

Their participation is indicative of the evolution of the conflict as many groups rejected any negotiations with Damascus as long as Assad was in power. Now they will attempt to join a process that the United States and its allies say must eventually lead to Syrian President Bashar Assad's removal _ but with no timetable for it.

A peace plan agreed to last month by 17 nations meeting in Vienna sets a Jan. 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between Assad's government and opposition groups. The plan says nothing about Assad's future, but states that "free and fair elections would be held pursuant to the new constitution within 18 months."

Among the nations that took part in the Vienna meeting were the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Russia and Iran have been Assad's strongest supporters since the crisis began in March 2011 while Saudi Arabia and Turkey have backed factions trying to remove the Syrian president from power.

Iran has denounced the meeting saying it will add new obstacles to a solution instead of helping to solve it.

_____

Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this story.