Rebels Kill Aleppo Cleric, Parade Body
Syrian rebel forces killed a pro-regime Sunni cleric in the city of Aleppo, with some reports suggesting he was beheaded, and then dragged his body through the streets, a watchdog group said on Saturday.
Sheikh Hassan Seifeddin, imam of a mosque in the northern Aleppo neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud, "was killed overnight Friday by rebel fighters in the east of the area and his body was dragged through the streets," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Seifeddin was "assassinated by terrorists who mutilated his body afterwards," while official television station al-Ikhbariya said he had been "slaughtered" and beheaded.
"The ulema (clerics) of Aleppo denounce this despicable crime committed by the enemies of humanity who assassinated Sheikh Hassan Seifeddin and laid his head on the minaret of al-Hassan mosque in Sheikh Maqsud," the station reported.
Sheikh Maqsud is a majority Kurdish district of Aleppo, and fierce battles between rebels and regime forces have been raging since Friday in its eastern quarter where much of the district's non-Kurdish Sunni residents live.
The ulema called on the Syrian army to "liberate Syria from the criminal mercenaries with obscurantist ideas," in an apparent reference to hardline jihadist groups amongst the armed opposition.
A March 22 suicide bomb attack on a central Damascus mosque claimed by jihadists killed 42 people, including the country's most prominent pro-regime Sunni cleric.
The Observatory said 31 people had been killed in Sheikh Maqsud in 24 hours, including 10 civilians, 14 pro-regime gunman and seven rebels.
At least 157 people were killed through Syria on Friday, according to the watchdog group which gathers its information from a network of activists and medics on the ground.
11 years
Every traitor gets his day, good bye traitor.
11 years
Anyone have any links to what this puppet used to look like?
11 years
just like you and your so called sunni muslims, who detonate bombs in mosqous, kill shiekhs.
Is this what your qoran says??
All of you are money hungry bloodsucking parasites, who sell their mothers for a price
11 years
Please like shia never one this LOL
11 years
Not all societies, people, cultures can be entrusted with and/or should be given the freedom to practice religion. What is happening is perfect example. Consider a world (could be an interesting made for movie novel) where a "Johny come lately" religion like a kid with a new toy, lets call it blue, in empowered with wealth, is inherently oppressive, hates its neighbors and deems anyone who does not wear blue, outside the party of God. You may also consider the earlier days of European embrace of Christianity. And for sure they must know what they are talking about, since someone must have entrusted them with the ultimate secret of the universe, creation and our destiny, and we just got here yearning and begging for their bull crap.
11 years
He deserved to be beheaded, I would do the same if our clerics ever betrayed us in wartime
11 years
Of course Sarkis, given your background, you're a LF bigot and a tool for the salafis. So strange you guys have become allies with people who consider you infidels. Bizarre but i suppose you deserve what's coming to you... then again can it be worse than what has already happened? You're politically irrelevant, sucks doesn't it?
11 years
All i see on this page is 100s of shia pretending to be christian with fake accounts, your not fooling anybody.
11 years
A la guerre comme a la guerre dit le dicton. L'homme se transforme en bête malheureusement.
11 years
Coco, salut. Si DEUX pays voisins s'entendent comme larrons en foire, en l'occurrence KSA et Le Qatar sur le sort de la Syrie c'est qu'ils ont raison. Et puis, ils sont arabes eux... Comme les syriens. Tes amis et alliés non naturels du régime criminel syrien le sont pour d'obscures raisons... Et puis, dis toi bien que si les gens se révoltent c'est qu'ils laisés économiquement.... Si la majorité du peuple mangeait à sa faim, rien de tout ça ne se serait produit ni là ni ailleurs.
11 years
They already did that in Beirut! those sunnis wahabis & co. in the Battle of the Hotels. They killed the christian fighters and dragged their bodies behind their Chevrolet station wagon!!!
I will never forget it, i was 17.
its not new, they are pro!!!
11 years
where are all the so called boot lickers of so called rebels , who are doing a jihadist work to liberate Syria from the dictator.
They must condone killings like this.
11 years
I think these are Bashar's thugs who want to pin on the rebels. Hope the rebels will win, so finally they will have true democracy, where a person can express themselves freely.
11 years
Same to you roar.
11 years
Pity the Syrian people. They have 2 horrible options, each more barbaric than the other. I hope they remain busy killing each other for a long time before they turn their attention to us.
11 years
Welcome back! No one should encourage/support/ approve of this, regardless of what side of the fence you are on. Very well said. Happy Easter to you too.
11 years
This imam did not deserve to lynched but he is nothing compared to the innocent babies and mothers killed every minute of the day who the blind imam did not give voice to but was a lapdog.
11 years
Finally a voice of reason!!
11 years
Somalia has been invaded by foreign forces.
11 years
These thugs have lost all creditability by performing their deplorable crimes. The clear message here is that if you are a moderate that disagrees with FSA exremist views you will be killed. Where is the freedom of speech the basic freedom of thought? Is this the Syria that everyone wants? A heaven for extremist terrorists? All these acts are being supported by Qatar, Saudi, Israel and the USA to declare Syria as a hard line Islamic state for the Wahabi/Salafi tribes of the Sunni's. However, this is simply history replaying itself. We don't need to remember too far back to recall what happened to theTaliban.
11 years
fsa went bankrupt, there is nothing left for them, a sign of their end
school buses, collages, mosques, clerics... 7 years old boy with kalashnikov, mother strapping explosive belt on another seven year boy... faking news to lift up their cattle sprits... their dream victory is light years gone...
11 years
heard about the Arbia Jounralist who tried to enter lebanon with E3zaz passport? they think eaazaz is country now
11 years
so remind me of M14 when they get too exciting and start acting like clowns! and the next day it blow in their faces and they come up with teh lamest excuses... like this character nadim kotish
11 years
Hear hear! And may the day come when the Assad and his insane Iranian supporters are obliterated off of the face of this earth!!
11 years
The biggest thing ASSiR can plan is a bicycle ride
11 years
Until this moment, 10:21 a.m. Ottawa time, newspapers,European, and North American newspapers have ignored this tragic incident. I am reading, Der Spiegel, the BBC and Telegraph newspapers,no reporting of this story is reported?????? WHY????
Bande de barbares. It's not a reason to stop the battle, Bashar must be stopped and judged.