Syria rebels using caged captives as ‘human shields

A major Syrian rebel group is using dozens of captives in
metal cages as “human shields” in the largest opposition
stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus, a monitor said
Sunday.
Jaish al-Islam, regarded as the most powerful rebel
group near the capital, has put regime soldiers and
Alawite civilians it was holding in metal cages, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.
The group then placed these cages in public
squares in the Eastern Ghouta region in an attempt
to “prevent regime bombardment”, Observatory
head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
“Jaish al-Islam is using these captives and
kidnapped people — including whole families — as
human shields,” he said.
Government forces regularly bombard the Eastern
Ghouta area, from where rebel groups fire rockets
into the capital.
On Friday, at least 70 people were killed and 550
wounded in regime bombardment of Douma, a
large town in the area.
A video published by opposition news outlet
Shaam Network showed cages of men and women,
about five people in each, being transported on the
backs of three lorries through war-ravaged streets
as young children rode by on bicycles.
Speaking to camera, both men and women asked
government forces to stop shelling Eastern Ghouta.
“Your women are our women. If you want to kill
my mother, you will kill them too,” a dark-eyed
teenage boy said outside one of the trucks.
Abdel Rahman said most of the civilians were
kidnapped by Jaish al-Islam two years ago outside
Adra al-Ummaliyah, a regime-held neighbourhood
in Eastern Ghouta.
A Jaish al-Islam spokesman was not reachable for
comment.
Both regime forces and rebel groups have been
criticised by rights groups for indiscriminate
attacks on civilians in Syria’s war, which has killed
more than 250,000 people since it began in March
2011.