It is perhaps the most disturbing
piece of video footage to emerge out of the Syrian crisis to date.
A young boy is egged on by a group
of older men, believed to be rebel fighters, and filmed hacking the head off a
man who is lying on the ground.
An older man is then seen picking up
the head before placing it on top of the body like a macabre trophy.
The victim appears to be dead before the gruesome act begins as he is lying flat and unmoving with his head resting on a cinderblock.
The clip is one of thousands of
graphic videos that have been uploaded onto the internet purporting to show the
horrors of the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Several videos allegedly to show Syrian rebel fighters carrying out summary executions on captured government soldiers or suspected informants have attracted strong criticism.
Others show the dead bodies of
dozens of civilians said to have been killed in Government attacks. It is
impossible to verify if the footage is real.
The emergence of this latest clip
comes just as Washington is said to have begun a secret operation to arm the
Syrian rebel fighters following reports of movements at Syria’s chemical
weapons sites.
According to a report in the Sunday
Times, the US will send mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank missiles
and anti-aircraft missiles to Syria through Middle Eastern countries.
An estimated 40,000 people have been
killed since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.
Today rebels reportedly took control
of a military base after a two-day battle that left at least 35 government
troops dead.
It was the second major base
captured in the country's north by the rebels, who have been racking up
victories in the area in recent weeks and making inroads further south toward
Damascus, seat of the government they are fighting to overthrow.
The British-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said the battle for the sprawling Sheik Suleiman military
base, near the northern city of Aleppo, ended when the rebels took over the
site's main compound and warehouses that housed a military research center.
They had first breached the base
perimeter on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of fighting with soldiers loyal to
President Bashar Assad.
The Observatory relies on a network
of activists inside Syria. It did not give figures on rebel casualties from the
battle.
Also Tuesday in Aleppo - the
country's largest city and commercial center - four mortar rounds hit the
predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheik Maksoud, killing 11 and wounding a
dozen. The dead included three children and two women, the Observatory said.
The conflict started nearly 21 months ago as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. It quickly morphed into a civil war, with rebels taking up arms to fight back against a bloody crackdown by the government. According to activists, more than 40,000 people have been killed since March 2011.
The Observatory said fighters from
the jihadi groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, Mujahedeen Shura Council and The
Muhajireen, took part in the battle for the base.
Jabhat al-Nusra, which counts both
Syrians and foreigners in its ranks, is one of the most effective fighting
units on the rebel side. But the West is wary that such jihadi groups could
hijack the uprising.
On Monday, Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton designated Jabhat al-Nusra a foreign terrorist
organization.
The move freezes any assets its
members may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from providing the
group with material support.
The designation is largely symbolic
because the group is not thought to have holdings or support in the United
States, but officials hope the penalties will encourage others to take similar
action and discourage Syrians from joining.
That step was part of a package
intended to help the leadership of the newly formed Syrian Opposition Council
improve its standing and credibility as it pushes ahead with planning for a
post-Assad future.
The Observatory also reported
clashes and shelling in several Damascus suburbs, including Aqraba, near the
international airport where fighting started early this month.
The Local Coordination Committees,
another activist group, said five people were killed during clashes between
troops and rebels in the Damascus suburb of Rankous.
The Observatory and the LCC said
there were casualties in clashes in the northwestern Jisr al-Shughour area near
the border with Turkey.
Culled from
dailymail.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment