Pro-militant sources released a new video claiming that it shows Russian soldiers beating an ISIS member with a hammer somewhere in the Syrian Desert.
However, it’s clear that the fighters in the video aren’t Russian soldiers. They don’t wear the official uniforms of the Russian military and carry weapons that are not used by the Russian military.
ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC! #Russia|n soldiers beheaded #Syria|n man and tortured one more to death by hitting him with hammer all over his body.. pic.twitter.com/FZn4SAseeG
— Rami (@RamiAILoIah) 30 June 2017
On the other hand, it is impossible to ascertain the location of the video or the identity of the person being tortured by alleged Russian fighters.
It’s possible that fighters on the video are some Russian volunteers or private military contractors that participate in the conflict on the government side.
In the video, the man who was beaten repeated in Arabic: “I bear witness that there is no god but God”. This is an Arabic phrase that the Muslims say if they feel that their death is near, confirming at least that the man is Arab.
However, under torture it is rare to repeat this sentence except by extremists. Indeed, many pro-government and opposition sources have claimed that the man is a member of ISIS.
The only certain thing is that the fighters are not from the Russian Army, and that the man is actually an Arab. The man may be an ISIS Arab fighter, but his name has not been disclosed so far.
The best solutions in such cases is a formal investigation.