The Syrian regime has announced the martyrdom of Colonel Mustafa Abdul Karim Shaddoud after he appeared in a video clip talking to Free Syrian Army leaders.
In the clip, Shaddoud told the leaders: "We don’t want to hurt anybody, we are with you, we don’t want to destroy. You are our relatives, you are our brothers, we don’t want to kill anybody."
A military source said the colonel died after he was shot in the leg. He was taken to intensive care, but died later.
Medical sources close to the family, however, said the injury was not lethal and that in the worst case scenario, the leg needed amputating.
Activists accused the Syrian regime of the colonel's death, calling him a martyr. Others said that his murder should be considered a message from the regime to officers and soldiers considering any sort of dialogue or expressing sympathy with the Free Syrian Army.
The video clip circulating on social networks showed the Syrian army officer, accompanied by a group of soldiers, talking to a group of military from the opposition in Damascus Countryside. When asked about his birthplace, he replied he was "from all of Syria."
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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