The Media Office in Homs broadcast footage on Thursday showing the slaughtering of a Syrian army officer at the hands of a child from ISIS' "Caliphate Cubs".
The footage depicts Captain Raif al-Ali describing battle conditions prior to his capture: "We were ambushed by the fighters of ISIS after the withdrawal from the city of Palmyra at al-Basira checkpoint. We lost 10 of our soldiers, including the chief of staff of the regiment, then we continued our way towards Tifour Airport, following orders".
"The orders changed, and we were relocated in Qasr al-Hir al-Gharbi. We were about 250 soldiers, and then we were attacked again by ISIS. The army intensified the shelling on the point, although there were dozens of wounded soldiers among us", Ali said.
Ali accuses Assad's forces in Tifour Airport of ignoring the trapped soldiers. "I fled to a nearby orchard and hid under a tree, but I was hit in the shelling then captured", he added.
The footage concludes with an ISIS fighter standing beside a child of the so-called the "Caliphate Cubs". The fighter threatens: "Our ambition is not only to capture Palmyra, nor Homs and Damascus, but also Jerusalem and Rome, God willing".
In a scene which is the first of its kind, the child then slaughters the Syrian army captain with a knife. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the first public execution carried out by children in the middle of January, when two children executed two ISIS members accused of cooperation with Russian intelligence. The "Caliphate Cubs" also executed 25 pro-Assad militants in the ancient city of Palmyra in May.
"More than 1,100 children have been recruited [by ISIS] since the beginning of 2015 until early July", according to Agence France Presse.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
