\n German prosecutors said Thursday they had filed war crime charges against the alleged leader of a rebel group which fought in Syria alongside Islamic State jihadists.\n<\/p>\n
\n Syrian Amer A., the suspected chief of the group Liwa Jund al-Rahman, is accused of war crimes in \"the form of forced displacement, looting in two cases and destruction\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors also charged another Syrian named as Basel O. for membership in the group and arrested a third suspect over similar crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Amer A. is alleged to have founded the Liwa Jund al-Rahman in 2013 in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor and acted as its leader.\n<\/p>\n
\n The rebel group aimed to \"violently bring down the Syrian regime\", aligning itself with the Free Syrian Army but following an \"Islamist agenda\", prosecutors said.\n<\/p>\n
\n In June 2013, Amer A.'s fighters are said to have joined other jihadist groups in an attack on the eastern village of Hatlah that killed up to 60 Shiite residents.\n<\/p>\n
\n Survivors were made to flee by Liwa Jund al-Rahman fighters \"intentionally stoking fears of death\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The armed group also \"took valuables and destroyed religious and cultural institutions\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The result was \"the end of all Shiite presence in Hatlah\", prosecutors said.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2014, Amer A. joined the IS jihadist group and placed his fighters and financial resources under IS authority, according to prosecutors.\n<\/p>\n
\n Basel O. is alleged to have held \"a prominent military position\" in Amer A.'s organisation in 2013-2014.\n<\/p>\n
\n The suspect commanded combat units that fought Syrian troops, notably at Deir ez-Zor's military airfield, prosecutors said.\n<\/p>\n
\n A third Syrian man, Sohail A., was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of belonging to Liwa Jund al-Rahman and the Islamic State.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sohail A., who allegedly worked as a media officer, \"created propaganda videos, including of the incident in Hatlah\", prosecutors said in a separate statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was also accused of war crimes for forced displacement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
German prosecutors said Thursday they had filed war crime charges against the alleged leader of a rebel group which fought in Syria alongside Islamic State jihadists. Syrian Amer A., the suspected chief of the group Liwa Jund al-Rahman, is accused of war crimes in \"the form of forced displacement, looting in two cases and destruction\". […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-130669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n