BEIRUT – Anti-government rebels killed 28 soldiers yesterday in attacks on three army checkpoints around Saraqeb, a town on Syria’s main north-south highway, a monitoring group said.
Some of the dead were shot after they had surrendered, according to video footage. Rebels berated them, calling them “Assad’s dogs”, before firing round after round into their bodies as they lay on the ground.
The highway linking the capital, Damascus, to the contested city of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial centre, has been the scene of heavy fighting since rebels cut the road last month. Saraqeb lies about 40km south of Aleppo.
In other developments, China has put forward a new initiative to resolve the 19-month-old conflict, including a phased, region-by-region ceasefire and the setting up of a transitional governing body.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Beijing had made the proposal to international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi – whose own call for a truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid was largely ignored by both sides.
The United States meanwhile has called for an overhaul of Syria’s opposition leadership, signalling a break with the largely foreign-based Syrian National Council to bring in more credible figures.
In Zagreb on Wednesday, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said a meeting in Qatar next week of foreign powers backing the rebels would be an opportunity to broaden the coalition against President Bashar al-Assad. The US and its allies have struggled for months to build a credible opposition coalition, while President Assad has counted on the support of Russia, Iran and, to a lesser extent, China.
More than 32,000 people have been killed since protests against the government first broke. The revolt has since degenerated into full-scale civil war, with government forces relying heavily on artillery and air strikes to thwart the rebels. The army has lost swathes of land in Idlib and Aleppo provinces but is fighting to control towns along supply routes to Aleppo city, where its forces are fighting in many districts.
The head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdelrahman, said two of the attacked checkpoints at Saraqeb were on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The third was near a road linking Aleppo with Latakia, a port city still mostly controlled by Assad forces.
“The rebels will not stay at the checkpoints for long as Syrian warplanes normally bomb positions after rebels move in,” Mr Abdelrahman said.
Five rebels died in the fighting and at least 20 soldiers were killed at the third site, including those shot after surrendering, he said.
The video footage showed a group of petrified men, some bleeding, lying on the ground as rebels walked around, kicking and stamping on their captives. One of the captured men says: “I swear I didn’t shoot anyone” to which a rebel responds: “Shut up, you animal . . . Gather them for me.”
Then the men are shot dead.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage. – (Reuters)