Beheading of child condemned

MOSCOW: The US needs to reconsider providing aid to jihadist groups operating in Syria as they are committing atrocities against civilians and the reported beheading of a child by the US-backed Nour al-Din al-Zenki rebel faction fits into a pattern, Tarek Ahmad, a member of the Hmeimim group of internal Syrian opposition, has said.

On Tuesday, US state department spokesman Mark Toner said the US would reconsider providing aid to the rebel group if it was confirmed members of the faction beheaded a child.

“I think it is possible that the US will change their policy towards this particular group but, if fact, they need to change their strategy of dealing with every so called military opposition group in Syria as this boy is not the first victim of these fanatics,” Ahmad said.

He pointed out the Free Syrian Army includes the Farouq Brigades, which several years ago gained notoriety when one of its commanders was filmed eating the heart ofa Syrian soldier.

“There are no moderate Syrian opposition groups,” he claimed, adding “all of them are Islamists and fanatics, all of them think the same way, spreading extremism with total impunity”.

He was commenting after a video emerged on social media showing a boy of around 10 years old sitting on the back of a truck surrounded by several men accusing him of being a member of Liwa al-Quds, a Palestinian militia that supports the Syrian government. A second video later emerged of the boy’s murder.

Nour al-Din al-Zenki posted a statement on its Facebook page promising to investigate. – Sputnik