The Free Syrian Army pledged on Wednesday to punish atrocities amid outrage over a video showing the mutilation of a corpse, as the regime ruled out discussing President Bashar al-Assad’s departure in negotiations.
The mainstream rebel group made the statement after a gruesome video of an alleged rebel fighter cutting out and apparently eating the organs of a regime soldier emerged online.
“Any act contrary to the values that the Syrian people have paid their blood and lost their homes [for] will not be tolerated, the abuser will be punished severely even if they are associated with the Free Syrian Army,” the main rebel group said in a statement.
It said field commanders had been instructed “to begin a prompt investigation into the matter in which the perpetrator will be brought to justice”.
Investigations would also be held into whether the rebel in the video is a member of the Free Syrian Army or not, it said.
The man in the video, identified as Khalid al-Hamad, defended his actions in an interview with Time Magazine, saying he was driving to them by footage on the dead soldier’s phone, showing him “humiliating” a naked women and her two daughters.