Syrian supporters of the Al-Nusra group
Syrian supporters of the Al-Nusra groupAFP photo

President Bashar Al-Assad’s troops have been using innocent civilians as human bait to lure rebels from their hiding places, according to Arab affairs expert Dalit Halevi.

A recent video distributed by the rebels shows the brutal methods used by the Assad regime in its war against the rebels.

The video shows a woman and her little son as they are arrested by soldiers who proceed to attack, abuse and torture the mother. The soldiers then shoot the woman iin the legs and throw her half-naked in the middle of the street, in one of the battle frontlines at the center of Damascus.

The soldiers then beat the boy so his mother will hear his voice and move her body. This tactic is uses the mother as bait so that rebel fighters will come out of their hiding to try to save the woman, essentially walking into a trap and being attacked by Syrian snipers.

The evil plan worked as planned, noted Halevi, and a number of rebels were killed in the failed rescue attempt.

Both Syrian soldiers as well as rebels have been committing atrocities towards one another. Rebels have tortured, executed and carried out public floggings to those found to be traitors. Most of these incidents are being documented on videos which are then uploaded to the internet.

One particularly disturbing incident was a video in which one rebel was seen eating the heart of a dead rival.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)