Al-Qaeda-Linked Rebels Apologise After Cutting Off Head Of Wrong Person
asked for "understanding and forgiveness" for cutting off
and putting on display the wrong man's head. In a public
appearance filmed and posted online, members of Islamic
State of Iraq and al-Sham, one brandishing a knife, held up
a bearded head before a crowd in Aleppo.
They
triumphantly described the execution of what they said was
a member of an Iraqi Shia militia fighting for President
Bashar al-Assad.
But the head was recognised from the video as originally
belonging to a member of Ahrar al-Sham, a Sunni Islamist
rebel group that often fights alongside ISIS though it does
not share its al-Qaeda ideology.
After inquiries, an ISIS spokesman admitted he was
Mohammed Fares, an Ahrar commander reported missing
some days ago. This could not be independently confirmed,
but in an earlier video of a speech by Mr Fares he bears a
close resemblance to the severed head in the later video.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, which monitors
deaths in the Syrian conflict, and several activists on social
media said that ISIS fighters misunderstood comments Mr
Fares made referring to the Imams Ali and Hussein, the
founding fathers of Shiism.
It is thought he was wounded in the battle for Base 80, a
military zone being fought over near Aleppo.
In explaining the error Mr al-Qahtani made reference to a
story in which Mohammed said Allah would forgive a man
who killed a believer in error.
The mistake, of a sort commonly cited as an argument
against the death penalty around the world, is indicative of
the chaos within rebel ranks, particularly since the rise of
ISIS over the summer. Several other Islamist groups have
formed alliances without its participation, but it continues to
exercise control over large areas of northern Syria.
Its ferocity has given rise to an exodus of moderate and
secular activists, and brought to an end an uneasy truce
between the Free Syrian Army and Kurdish militias, the
most prominent of which has in the last month taken on ISIS
and driven them out of a number of towns in the north-east.
Meanwhile, Mr Assad's forces have used the internal rifts in
their enemies' ranks to make progress on a drive south-east
of Aleppo. This week, a group of Islamist rebels put out an
appeal for a mass mobilisation against the advance, while
there are repeated rumours that major Islamist militias
which do not support al-Qaeda are about to declare a
common front.
Mr Qahtani said the incident would be investigated by the
appropriate judicial authorities.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
Post a Comment