A Syrian rebel group, once backed by the United States military, allegedly beheaded a young child in Aleppo, images and videos of which are being circulated widely on Tuesday.
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A Palestinian boy who was filmed being beheaded by Syrian rebels on Tuesday was not a fighter, a pro-government Palestinian militia has said.
The disturbing clip shows the UK-backed Nour al-Din al-Zenki fighters in the back of a truck with poor lad – who they accuse of being a spy.
“The Quds Brigade has no men, so they sent us children”, says one militant.
The young boy is said to be a soldier for Liwaa al-Quds, a group which supports Assad’s Syrian forces.
Up until September 2015, Nour al-Din al-Zinki was a recipient of financial and arms support from the U.S.as part of a group of so-called moderate opposition factions working with a logistics hub partly run by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The incident is yet another reminder of the difficulties the USA has faced in forging a ground force composed of Syrian rebels who would fight Islamic State jihadists while ensuring a democratic, representative government in Syria.
It said those responsible were handed over to a judicial committee, and denounced the killing as a “violation”.
“If we can prove that this was indeed what happened and this group [Nurredin Zinki] was involved in it, I think it would certainly give us pause… and we’ll look at, frankly, any affiliation or cooperation with this group we may have going forward, if these allegations are proven true”, spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday.
Earlier this month, an Amnesty International report accused the group of abductions, torture and summary killings in and around Aleppo.
The rebel group in question has been identified as the Nour al-Din al-Zinki Movement, which appeared to publish a press release on its Twitter page on Tuesday calling the beheading an “individual error that does not represent the general policy of the movement”.
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Syria’s conflict began in 2011 with the repression of anti-government demonstrations and has evolved into a multi-front war that has left more than 280,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.
