Fighters from US-backed Syrian rebel group beheads child in Aleppo, Syria

The US is investigating a video which appears to show members of one of the Syrian rebel groups it has funded beheading a child. U.S. said its support to the group might be reconsidered.

Images of a fighter cutting off the small boy's head with a knife matched some of the worst brutalities committed by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) group, which has killed hundreds of captives in Syria and neighbouring Iraq in the past three years.

The boy, who looked to be around 12 years old, was captured near Handarat Refugee Camp in northern Aleppo by Nour al-Din al-Zenki - the main opposition faction fighting the Syrian regime in newly besieged city.



Before being killed, he is shown on the back of a truck being taunted by several men who say he was from a Palestinian faction which fights in Aleppo in support of President Bashar al-Assad.


"This is a prisoner from the Quds Brigade. They don't have men any more so they've sent us children today," one of the men is heard saying. "These are your dogs, Bashar, children of the Quds brigade," said another.

A fighter then cuts off his head and holds it up for the camera as others in the group shout “Allahu akhbar”, or God is great.

It is thought the boy, who was bloodied and could be seen with an IV drip tube in his arm, was being treated by activists in the group before more radical elements dragged him away.

The graphic video has been shared on social media, where it has been met with outrage and condemnation.

The group has received military support from Washington, including anti-tank TOW missiles. While Zenki’s funding stopped last year, the footage raises questions about the groups the US has backed in the Syrian civil war.
An Amnesty International report released earlier this year found that Zenka was responsible for torture and forced confessions in Aleppo, where it is based... source

The US may reconsider its support for the “Syrian moderate rebels” if reports of anti-Assad rebels beheading a Palestinian boy are confirmed. The State Department has vowed “consequences” if the gruesome videos of the death are true.

The State Department has said that videos of the boy’s death are not proven to true, yet.
    If we [the United States] can prove indeed what happened and this group [al-Zenki] was involved in it… it would give us pause about any assistance or frankly any further involvement,” Deputy Spokesperson for the State Department, Mark Toner, said at a daily briefing on Tuesday.

Toner refused to provide information what “consequences” the Syrian “moderates” would face if it turns out that they had been behind the bloody incident.

"Moderate" rebels cruelty exceeded Daesh's: The boy was asked for a last wish, he said he wanted to be shot not slaughtered; they laughed, and said, Slaughtered you will be. And they beheaded him.