Oh, we're gonna love these guys. Use of chemical weapons is against the laws of war. So is execution of prisoners of war. But that doesn't stop our new friends (well, at least John McCain's new friends), those diamonds in the rough, the Syrian rebels from executing naked unarmed men. From the NYT (9/5/13):
The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.
“For fifty years, they are companions to corruption,” he said. “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.”
The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.
The video's on the linked page. Watch it and you'll learn something about our new pals.
But, wait, there's more -- a lot more.
U.N. probes allegations of rebel atrocities in Syria (CBS 8/2/13):
United Nations experts are investigating allegations that rebels killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a village near Aleppo after they captured it from government troops, an incident that could amount to a war crime, the world body's human rights chief said Friday.
Beheadings by Syrian Rebels Add to Atrocities, UN Says (Bloombert 6/4/13):
Syrian opposition forces recruited a 14-year-old boy from Homs as a fighter and had a child take part in beheading two government soldiers, according to a United Nations report citing human-rights abuses by both sides in Syria’s civil war.
Uproar as footage shows Syrian rebel atrocities (AuBC 8/14/13):
Horrific videos purportedly showing Syrian rebels throwing the bodies of postal workers off a roof and a man's throat being savagely cut triggered outrage among rights activists on Monday.
Want more? Don't forget that Syria's 20 million people have a complex mixture of different languages and religions. What could possibly go wrong with
that in a civil war?
Syria Rebels Threaten to Wipe Out Shiite, Alawite Towns (Bloomberg 5/21/13):
Communities inhabited by Shiite Muslims and President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority will be “wiped off the map” if the strategic city of Al-Qusair in central Syria falls to government troops, rebel forces said.
And it turns out that the city of Al-Qusair
did fall to the government. (
source).
Imagine these guys in charge of a national secret police force, or maybe just a bigger vigilante mob.
Assad is a murdering scumbag weasel, but these folks don't seem to be much of an improvement.