CHILLING FOOTAGE HAS emerged that appears to provide evidence that patients were brutally tortured in a Syrian hospital.
The video, leaked to Channel 4 News, shows men tightly shackled to their beds with rusty chains. They are blindfolded and appear to be unconscious.
The bodies of several bear wounds consistent with severe beatings, while a rubber whip and electrical cable lie on a nearby table.
Channel 4 News has said it cannot independently verify the footage, which it says was leaked by an employee at the Military Hospital in the conflict-torn city of Homs. The employee said that he had seen detainees electrocuted, whipped, and beaten.
“They twist the feet until the leg breaks,” he said. “Others have their penises tied to stop them from urinating.”
The grim footage has emerged after US Senator John McCain called for the country to launch airstrikes against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime. More than 7,500 people have been killed in a brutal crackdown against a rebellion that began last year.
McCain said the US should support the rebels militarily.
“The only realistic way to do so is with foreign airpower,” McCain told the Senate. “The United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria, especially in the north, through airstrikes on Assad’s forces.”
However, the top US commander in the Middle East has said that Syrian security forces have chemical and biological weapons on a “substantial” scale. The warning came from General James Mattis, head of US Central Command.
- Additional reporting from AP
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