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Law of the jungle

Jul 21,2016 - Last updated at Jul 21,2016

The grisly beheading of a 12-year-old boy in a rebel held area of Aleppo shown in a video released this week has been met with outrage and condemnation across the political spectrum in Syria as well as in the entire region. 

The footage of the barbaric decapitation of the young boy by members of the Nureddin Zenki rebel group, who accused him of fighting alongside forces loyal to Damascus outraged the entire Syrian nation, with calls for swift action against the perpetrators.

The group to which the perpetrators belong said that the beheading was a “mistake” and does not reflect its general policy. 

Calling the brutal murder of the child a mistake is surely an understatement and belittles the gravity of the heinous crime and what it represents. 

Yes, the Nureddin Zenki rebel group quickly disowned the crime and promised immediate investigation and the application of the harshest punishment against the perpetrators, but even that does not go far enough to combat the criminal state of mind that made the beheading possible in the first place. 

The protracted Syrian conflict has dehumanised the people and eroded respect for all basic humanitarian and human rights. 

Syria has indeed become a jungle governed by outlaws from both sides of the war. 

Victims of aerial bombings in Aleppo are in the hundreds, but the issue barely receives enough media coverage internationally beyond the numbers and the usual cliché statements, as if the killing of Syrians by the hundreds every day does not count anymore. 

Russia and the US must get their act together and put human life ahead of their strategic interests in the region. 

 

There is no sign of that happening yet, but mankind will never forget the brutality of the Syrian civil war and will hold the major powers responsible for its perpetuation to account.

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