BEIRUT: Fighters from an Al Qaeda-linked Syrian rebel group beheaded an allied commander whom they mistook for a pro-government fighter, activists said yesterday.
While allegations of attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on civilians and infighting with more moderate rebels are commonplace, this time it appears to have killed a member of another hard-line group, Ahrar Al Sham. While that groups isn’t as radical as ISIL, it’s still considered to be among the more hard-line organisations fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
A militant website reported that the ISIL acknowledged the incident and asked for calm, saying that mistakes occur in wartime.
The incident happened in the northern city of Aleppo, where two fighters were videotaped displaying the severed head to a crowd on Wednesday. The men claimed the head belonged to an Iraqi Shia fighter allied to the government of Bashar Al Assad, but residents later recognised it as belonging to a rebel commander.
Activists said the ISIL fighters found the wounded rebel in a hospital after a battle with government forces on Wednesday. As he emerged from anaesthesia, he called out the names of saints recognised by Shias, an Islamic sect whose members have largely sided with Assad, one of the activists said.
“The medics knew he wasn’t a Shia, but they were too scared to stop them,” said one of the activists.
The next day, two young ISIL rebels were videotaped brandishing a man’s head.
But residents recognised the head as belonging to Ahrar Al Sham leader Mohammed Marrouche, known by his nom de guerre Abu Abdullah Al Halaby, one activist said.
AP
