Observers worldwide are shocked at the barbarity committed in the Syrian city of Homs that was captured on YouTube. A video depicts a young boy in the act as he decapitates a Syrian soldier with a sword. The victim had been in the service of dictator Bashr al-Asad. Onlookers cheered on the boy as he killed the man, who was on the ground and with his hands bound behind his back. The soldier in question was apparently an officer in the Syrian army.
According to the German Dpa news service, sources among the rebels fighting the Assad regime said that a 10-year-old boy decapitated an officer who was among a group of nine others who had been abducted by forces opposed to the regime. Two of them had already been released after their captors were paid a ransom for their lives. The YouTube video detailing the barbaric mutilation of the officer also showed another decapitated corpse, presumably another one of the abducted officers loyal to the Assad regime. It was not known whether the other victim was also killed by the young boy.
In addition to the general outrage over the crime, YouTube has come under fire for allowing the circulation of the macabre video. Some media are broadcasting the images as well.