Posted: 07/07/2015 at 12:09pm
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Syrian
horror: Islamic State ‘murders 25 men in Palmyra’ in front of crowd of
onlookers
By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST Ministries and the ASSIST News
Service
PALMYRA, SYRIA (ANS – July 4, 2015) -- A video apparently
released by the Islamic State terror group shows 25 men being shot dead in the
ancient city of Palmyra, in Syria.
IS
said the men were soldiers captured in the city of Homs. They were shot dead
inside Palmyra's historic amphitheater in front of a crowd apparently rounded up
and forced to watch the horror.
The BBC says that stills from the video showed the killers to be young males,
possibly even as young as 13 or 14.
IS captured Palmyra and the neighboring modern city, locally known as Tadmur,
in late May.
“The video was distributed by accounts known to be linked with Islamic State
militants. It is not clear when it was filmed,” said the BBC. “The killings took
place on a stage in the amphitheater in front of a large black IS flag.
“Several hundred men in civilian clothes are filmed sitting on steps watching
the shootings. Among them was a young boy.”
In close-up shots of the men waiting to be killed, they appear to have been
beaten on the face. Days after IS claimed Palmyra, it executed 20 men in the
same amphitheater.
The
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says shootings took place in the
amphitheater on May 27, but it is not clear if those killings are the ones in
the video.
The BBC added that the video goes on to show the destruction of Tadmur
prison, which occurred in late May.
In May, Mamoun Abdelkarim, Syria's head of antiquities, said: “Using the
Roman theatre to execute people proves that these people are against
humanity.”
Mr. Abdelkarim said most of the museum's antiquities had been transferred to
Damascus before IS approached the city.
Since then, there have been reports that mines have been planted among some
of Palmyra's ruins, and there were claims this week that militants destroyed an
ancient sculpture outside Palmyra's museum.
Since capturing the city, IS has also taken control of a military airbase and
a notorious prison nearby.
The
ancient ruins are situated in a strategically important area on the road between
the capital, Damascus, and the contested eastern city of Deir al-Zour.
Fighters with IS started claiming vast swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014,
aided in part by the insecurity generated by Syria's civil war.
“More than 230,000 Syrians have died in the war, which began after President
Bashar al-Assad's forces tried to put down anti-government protests in March
2011,” stated the BBC.
Note: Palmyra was an ancient Semitic city in the present Homs Governorate,
Syria. Dating to Neolithic times, it was first documented in the early second
millennium BC as a caravan stop for travelers crossing the Syrian Desert. The
city was noted in the annals of the Assyrian kings, and may have been mentioned
in the Hebrew Bible. Palmyra was incorporated by the Seleucid Empire and then
the Roman Empire, which brought prosperity.
Photo captions: 1) The mass execution about to take place. 2) Crowds forced
to watch the horror. 3) Scene in the amphitheater with IS shooting a video. 4)
Dan Wooding in Erbil, Northern Iraq, during a reporting trip. Source: Assist News
Service
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