The BBC's Jim Muir: "It's one of the worst things I've seen"


14 May 2013 Last updated at15:24 GMT
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Syria conflict


A video which appears to show a Syrian rebel taking a bite from the heart of a dead soldier has been widely condemned.

US-based Human Rights Watch identified the rebel as Abu Sakkar, a well-known insurgent from the city of Homs, and said his actions were a war crime.

The main Syrian opposition coalition said he would be put on trial.

The video, which cannot be independently authenticated, seems to show him cutting out the heart.

"I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog," the man says referring to President Bashar al-Assad as he stands over the soldier's corpse

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Abu Sakkar is the leader of a group called the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade.

"The desecration and mutilation of a killed person is definitely a war crime," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC. "This one particularly disturbing because of the sectarian nature of the language used by Abu Sakkar."

HRW said those committing war crimes on either side had to know that there was no impunity and that they would be brought to account.

The human rights group said Abu Sakkar had been filmed before, firing rockets into Shia areas of Lebanon and posing with the bodies of guerrillas from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement killed fighting alongside Syrian government forces.

"Abu Sakkar is a very significant commander - he's in charge of one of the most important battles happening in Syria right now," said Mr Bouckaert. "The danger is that extremists on both sides will feel the need to respond in kind

The video was posted on Sunday, though reporters from Time Magazinesaid they had first viewed the footage in April.

Time said on Tuesday it had spoken to Abu Sakkar, who confirmed that he had bitten into one of the soldier's organs - though a surgeon told the magazine that the organ appeared to be a lung, not the heart or liver, as reported elsewhere.

It is one of the most gruesome videos to emerge in more than two years of carnage in Syria, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

The UN says 70,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011, and millions have fled their homes.

Group of rebel fighters led by Abu Sakkar (pictured above)
Unit of the Islamist al-Farouq Brigades, founded in Homs in June 2011
Al-Farouq Brigades made their name defending Baba Amr district of Homs during government assault in Feb 2012
Al-Farouq Brigades operate under umbrella of the Free Syrian Army
Al-Farouq Brigades reported to comprise about 20,000 fighters
Abu Sakkar has appeared in videos firing rockets at Shia villages in Lebanon in April 2013 and posing with bodies of Hezbollah fighters
HRW said the attacks on the Shia villages appeared to be indiscriminate and a war crime