US-Syrian Rebel Group Investigates Footage of Child Being Beheaded

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men behind the attack were from the Nour al Din al Zinki rebel group.

(Photo Courtesy: Almasdar News)

A US-supported Syrian rebel group said it is investigating the beheading of a child in Aleppo after video footage was circulated showing the boy being killed by a man who activists identified as a member of the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men were fighters from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki Movement, a rebel group which has received military support channelled from Turkey, including US-made TOW missiles.

The images matched some of the worst brutalities committed by the jihadist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has killed hundreds of captives in Syria and neighbouring Iraq in the last three years.

It’s not clear who the boy was and why he was beheaded on camera. Before being killed, the boy is shown on the back of a truck, being taunted by several men who say he is from a Palestinian faction which fights in Aleppo in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

The men in the video are heard saying:

This is a prisoner from the Quds Brigade. They don’t have men any more so they’ve sent us children today. These are your dogs, Bashar, children of the Quds brigade.

However, in an online statement, the Quds Brigade denied the 12-year-old child was a fighter. It said he was from a poor family living in the Handarat Camp area north-east of Aleppo, which had fallen under the control of rebels.

The US State Department, which is investigating the case, said that the United States does not publicly identify the Syrian opposition groups that receive US support.

We routinely vet the groups we work with and support, as you might expect, and their human rights record figures prominently in that. 

US State Department Official

The official added:

We do not support groups that condone this sort of barbarity, period. We note that al-Zinki has said they will investigate this incident, and we hope they do so thoroughly and transparently.

The US State Department said it had detained the individuals who were involved in the incident and formed a committee to investigate.

ISIS condemned the beheading, while the rebel group’s leadership called it an “individual mistake”. The video triggered an instant backlash from US Secretary of State John Kerry, Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, the Red Cross, and Amnesty International, who said: 

This horrific video showing the beheading of a boy suggests some members of armed groups have truly plumbed the depths of depravity. It is yet another gruesome example of the summary killing of captives, which amounts to a war crime.

Philip Luther, Director, Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Program

(With inputs from Reuters and AP.)