Video Shows Rebels Executing Young Palestinian Boy

A disturbing video circulated on Tuesday showing fighters from a prominent Syrian rebel group executing a young boy believed to be only 12 years old.

The video shows fighters from Nour al-Din al-Zinki, a rebel group that was among the first to receive United States TOW anti-tank missiles, beheading the young boy, after accusing him of being a fighter with Liwa al-Quds, a pro-Syrian government Palestinian brigade.

Liwa al-Quds posted a statement on their Facebook page identifying the boy as 12-year-old Abdullah Issa and said that he was not a fighter. The statement claimed that he lived with his family in Aleppo, in an “area under the control of terrorists,” according to al-Jazeera.

Following the Liwa al-Quds statement, Nour al-Din al-Zinki posted a response on their Twitter page claiming the boy’s execution was an “individual error that does not represent the general policy of the movement.”

Rise in Civilian Death Toll From Coalition Airstrikes

United States-led coalition airstrikes on Tuesday allegedly killed at least 85 civilians in northern Syria, the Telegraph reported.

The U.S.-led coalition has been targeting ISIS militants in their stronghold in and around the northern town of Manbij, strategically located in the northern Aleppo province on the Turkish border, for several months.

The new death toll for Tuesday’s strikes is up from an initial report of 56 civilians having been killed in the attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the raid appeared to have been an error, as coalition warplanes mistook at least eight civilian families for ISIS fighters.

At least 167 civilians have been killed in coalition airstrikes in Manbij since the coalition began its operation against ISIS there in May, according to the Observatory. The U.S. has carried out more than 450 airstrikes in the area in the past three months, according to the Telegraph.

On Tuesday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters fighting the militants on the ground, seized an ISIS headquarters in the town that had been set up in a hospital, Reuters reported.

Source of Attack Near Syria-Israeli Border Disputed

At least two missiles hit a Syrian government position in the southwestern province of al-Quneitra on Wednesday, and it is still unclear who is behind the attack.

Initially on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that Israeli warplanes were to blame for the attack on a government building in Baath city, on the Syrian side of the disputed Golan Heights region. The building is under the control of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

However, the Lebanese group Hezbollah later claimed the missiles were fired by al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, Reuters reported.

“The Israeli enemy was monitoring the launchpoint of the rockets next to the Nusra positions. There is no truth to [reports of] any raids by the Israeli enemy,” Hezbollah said, according to Reuters.

Al-Manar, a pro-Hezbollah news outlet, also reported that Syrian army fighters retaliated by carrying out an attack on a Nusra vehicle believed to have launched the missiles.

Hezbollah is believed to operate in the area that the attack took place.

Recommended Reads:

• The Daily Beast: U.S.-Backed ‘Moderate’ Rebels Behead a Child Near Aleppo
• Middle East Monitor: NGO: 145 people killed across Syria on Sunday
• Brookings Institution: U.S.-Russian cooperation in Syria can’t Stop at counterterrorism
• The Washington Post: A New Jihadist Threat may be on the Horizon in Syria
• MintPress News: Photo Essay: Snapshots of Life in Damascus