Savage Online Videos Show Cannibalism, Brutality of Rebels in Syria: The Time

Local Editor

The Time published a report on Sunday slamming insurgents fighting in Syria for the brutality, referring to a video that showed Khalid al-Hamad, AKA Abu Sakkar, from the armed groups slicing out a Syrian soldier's organs and eating his heart.
"In the video a man who is believed to be a rebel commander named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, bends over the government soldier, knife in hand. He has already cut out the man's heart.
The man then cuts another organ free and stands to face the camera, holding an organ in each hand. ‘I swear we will eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs of Bashar,' he says, referring to supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Then the man raises one of the bloodied organs to his lips and starts to tear off a chunk with his teeth," The Time described the video.
The Time attempted on proving the authenticity of the video -posted online on May 12 - where reporters asked Abu Sakkar's fighters and brother of the video's authenticity, in which they confirmed that the man in the video was indeed al-Hamad.

"These 27 seconds of footage provide a glimpse at how brutal the Syrian war has become - and a startling example of how technology appears to be fueling that brutality," the magazine mentioned.
"The ubiquity of camera phones and social media are enabling a mixture of propaganda, intimidation and boastful exhibitionism. In this, the first YouTube war, videos have driven the conflict even as they document its horrors," the report noted.

"Look at the lions of Baba Amr slaughtering [people] and eating their hearts," the man believed to be a rebel commander in the video cried.
"Videos like this prompt a troubling question: How do countries who want to support Syria's rebels make sure they're not unintentionally aiding rebels who might commit war crimes?" The Time questioned, indicating that the brutality the rebels impose in the battlefield might make it harder for them to persuade the
international community that they are the best bet for Syria.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already providing the rebel forces with military aid, and the US is helping with nonmilitary aid. There is an ongoing debate in Washington about whether the U.S. government should provide further aid to the rebels, possibly including weapons.

"Eating an enemy's liver may be an extreme example of what appears to be a rebel atrocity, but there is enough documented evidence of extrajudicial killings, torture and desecration on the part of the rebels that it would be near impossible to know for certain who, exactly, are the ‘good' guys," Peter Bouckaert, director of emergencies for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch stated.
"In this context, where different rebel groups are fighting alongside each other, and sharing weapons, it's difficult to control where the weapons end up. It is very likely that some of the weapons will end up in the hands of the likes of Abu Sakkar," he noted.

The video featuring the man believed to be Abu Sakkar will lead to a desentizing effect when these trophy atrocities, played up for the camera and passed from phone to phone, are being traded, according to Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

When a 13-year-old boy is filmed beheading a man and when footage of rape, torture and amputations are passed like trading cards, it escalates the cycle of honor-driven revenge, according to Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch.
"When people see these acts of brutality and mutilation, it leaves deep scars, and there will be a temptation to replicate it in revenge," says Bouckaert.
For his part, Rahman says violent videos are showing up with increasing frequency. "They cut off limbs and heads. They cut out hearts and livers, ears and tongues. They cut off private parts and put them places. It's abnormal. It's inhuman what is happening."

Moreover, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri encouraged all militants to join the fight against the Syrian regime; further instability, with its rich recruitment pool and increased lawlessness, is the terrorist group's ideal incubator.

Source: The Time World, edited by moqawama.org