Hizbullah Slams Syria Rebels Beheading of Boy as 'Disgusting Crime'

Hizbullah on Wednesday lashed out at Syria's rebel groups after a video circulated on social media showed rebel fighters from the Nurredin Zinki group beheading a young boy after capturing him north of Syria's second city Aleppo.

In a statement issued in Lebanon, Hizbullah, whose fighters are assisting Syrian regime forces against rebels and jihadists, described the decapitation as a "disgusting crime" by "so-called moderate rebels backed by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia."

Residents in rebel-held areas said the beheading tarnished the name of the opposition, and at an Aleppo mosque on Tuesday night, Imam Mohamed Badawi railed against the killing.

"This is the work of criminals, and is forbidden in Islam," he told the congregation gathered for sunset prayers.

The boy was decapitated by members of the Nureddin Zinki rebel group on the back of a pick-up truck on a public road in Aleppo's opposition-controlled al-Mashhad neighborhood.

In the grisly footage, rebels accused the boy of fighting with a pro-regime Palestinian faction known as the al-Quds Brigade and said he was captured during fighting north of Aleppo city.

But the al-Quds Brigade issued a statement denying the boy was a member, and describing him as an ordinary 12-year-old Palestinian refugee.

The Nureddin Zinki group condemned the act as a "violation" in a statement on Tuesday, describing it as an "individual mistake that does not represent the general policy of the group."

The organization said it had detained those involved in the murder and set up a judicial committee to investigate the incident and issue a verdict as soon as possible.

The killing was also condemned by the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which expressed "shock at the horrific scenes" and urged the faction to follow through on its pledge to investigate and punish the perpetrators.