Israel Matzav

Al Hamad, who is Sunni and harbors a sectarian hatred for Alawite Muslims, said he has another gruesome video of his killing a government soldier from the Alawite faith. (Syrian President Bashar al Assad is Alawite; the conflict in Syria is increasingly sectarian.) “Hopefully we will slaughter all of them [Alawites]. I have another video clip that I will send to them. In the clip I am sawing another Shabiha [pro-government militiaman] with a saw. The saw we use to cut trees. I sawed him in small pieces and large ones.” Al Hamad also explained that even though both sides of the conflict in Syria are using video clips of their own brutal actions to intimidate the other he believes that his clip would have particular impact on the regime’s troops. “They film as well but after what I did hopefully they will never step into the area where Abu Sakkar is,” he said, using his nom de guerre and referring to the part of Syria he currently controls.

Human Rights Watch, which validated the video, released a report on May 13 identifying Khalid al Hamad as a well known commander responsible for the recent cross-border shelling of a Shiite Lebanese village that killed two. The organization called on the United Nations Security Council to refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court to ensure accountability for all war crimes and crimes against humanity. “It is not enough for Syria’s opposition to condemn such behavior or blame it on violence by the government,” said Nadim Houry, HRW’s Deputy Middle East Director. “The opposition forces need to act firmly to stop such abuses.” Al Hamad lashed out at HRW and the UN for focusing on opposition abuses when the regime is responsible for similar atrocities. During the interview, he sent links to YouTube videos purporting to show regime abuses. “Why doesn’t the UN make an appeal for the Shabiha not to do that? The Shabiha themselves posted a million clips of them stabbing and raping.”