Rebels Execute Over 50 Syrian Troops, 150 Killed Overall

Rebel Fighters Retake Key Aleppo Town

Syrian rebels have retaken the strategically important town of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo Province, killing at least 150 Syrian troops in the process, according to internal reports from within the group.

A large number of the troops slain, more than 50 by rebel accounts, were actually captured and summarily executed, and rebels issued video footage of the rows of bodies of slain soldiers.

Exactly which rebel faction is responsible remains unclear, however, as a secular faction was the first to announce the offensive, and today’s videos attributed the executions to Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda-linked faction.

The same town had previously fallen to Syrian troops in March, in heavy fighting which left over 200 people slain. The town was at the center of one of the alleged chemical weapons strikes in Syria,

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.