Beirut - Fighters from a Syrian insurgent group appear to have killed more than a dozen Islamic State captives with gunshots to the head, according to a video posted online on Wednesday which evoked a similar style to the jihadist group's own footage.
The insurgents from a group known as Islam Army are shown wearing orange jumpsuits and leading a group of alleged Islamic State fighters dressed in black along a road lined by trees. The men are hobbling and bound together with balls and chains. They are made to kneel and then shot dead.
Islam Army was formed by a merger of rebel factions in 2013 and is mainly based in the eastern Ghouta area near Damascus. Its leader Zahran Alloush is one of the most prominent figures of the insurgency and his role has taken him recently to Istanbul and Amman, both hubs for Syrian opposition activity against President Bashar al-Assad.
The video, tweeted on an Islam Army Twitter feed and posted on its website, said its fighters were avenging Islamic State's own killings of Islam Army members.
The video's commentary combines religious and sectarian language and accuses Islamic State of working with Shi'ite Muslims and the minority Alawite sect to which Assad belongs.
With its English subtitles and professional-style camerawork, the video evokes Islamic State's own “execution” videos in which the group has beheaded and shot dead captives.
Parts of the video have footage set to Islamic chanting, similar to Islamic State's productions.
Alloush appeared to back down from the group's hardline rhetoric in May in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers. He called Alawites “part of the Syrian people” and said Syrians would be free to choose “the form of state they want” after Assad.
He said the group had 10 000 fighters in the Damascus suburbs and another 7 000 elsewhere in Syria.
Reuters