Islamists Execute Boy Barista in Aleppo

The BBC is reporting this morning that Syrian troops are preparing for a major assault on the rebel-held northern city of Aleppo. This is in line with reporting from over the weekend that says the rebels are in free fall, that the opposition forces that remain on the ground are foreign mercenaries.

To make matters worse for the rebels both the BBC and the New York Times are reporting this morning that Islamist fighters in Aleppo have summarily executed a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents. This from Hwaida Saad and Hala Droubi of the New York Times:

Hezbollah has portrayed the fight in Syria as necessary to preserve Hezbollah’s ability to strike at Israel, by keeping open the conduit for arms from Iran that Mr. Assad’s government provides, and to protect Lebanon from extremists among the Syrian rebels. In an indication of the threat, such extremists were accused by fellow opponents of Mr. Assad on Sunday of killing a 15-year-old boy in Aleppo, in northern Syria, after the boy invoked the name of the Prophet Muhammad in a way that the extremists considered blasphemous.

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad watchdog group based in Britain, gave an account of the boy’s death that he said came from a member of his group who witnessed some of the events. 

He said Islamist rebels overheard the boy, who came from a poor family and sold coffee from a street cart, as he argued with some friends who wanted him to lend them money. The boy told his friends he would not do so “even if Muhammad comes back to life, “ Mr. Abdulrahman said, adding that “he just used a common Syrian expression that people use when they are adamant about something.” 

The gunmen beat and tortured the boy, he said, and then brought the boy to a public square, where they declared that those who insult the prophet deserve the same punishment as infidels. He said they spoke in classical Arabic, possibly indicating that they were foreigners. In front of a crowd that included the boy’s parents, Mr. Abdulrahman said, the men shot the boy in the head and neck. 

“His mother is veiled,” he added. “She went up to them, uncovered her hair and begged them to leave him and kill her instead.” 

Mr. Abdulrahman provided what he said was a photograph of the boy, with what appeared to be a bullet exit wound through his mouth.

The fact that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, is publicizing this execution is significant. We'll see if it disappears down the Western memory hole like Carla Del Ponte's allegation that rebels used sarin. At this point, short of a massive intervention by Israel and/or the West, the Syrian Coalition looks like it is on its last legs.