A hardline Islamist rebel group in Syria has released a video showing its fighters shooting dead a group of alleged Islamic State (IS) militants. Reversing the imagery of beheadings by the jihadist group, Jaysh al-Islam members wearing orange outfits are seen killing 18 men dressed in black. BBC was there:
The video says they are being shot in revenge for the recent beheading of three Jaysh al-Islam fighters. The Saudi-backed group also accuses IS of being allied to Syria’s government. Eighteen months of fierce fighting between IS and rebel groups, who have denounced the jihadists’ brutal tactics and mistreatment of civilian opposition supporters, have left thousands dead.Led by the former imprisoned Salafist activist Zahran Alloush, Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) has been battling IS in the Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus. The 20-minute video published on Jaysh al-Islam’s website on Tuesday mimics those produced by IS to announce the killing of government soldiers and Western hostages.It includes similarly sectarian language, with IS members accused of betraying their fellow Sunni Muslims and allying themselves with “enemy Shia” and “Nusayris”, a derogatory term for the heterodox Alawite sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.
