We’ve left it too late to save Syria – this conflict can never be won- It would be madness to arm the rebels in what has become a brutal religious war, says Boris Johnson
Just over a week ago, a 15-year-old boy called Mohammed Qataa was selling coffee from his stall in Aleppo. A friend of his asked for a cup, and said that he would pay him back later. What happened next is unimaginably dreadful — and yet no one has seriously contested any detail of the story.Young Mohammed said that he didn’t take credit, and wanted payment for the coffee there and then. Indeed, he went on casually to say that even if the Prophet Mohammed had come down, he would not give him credit.
Alas, his jocular remark was overheard. Three members of a movement called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria decided that they took exception. So they kidnapped the kid, and took him off to beat him; and then, in the early hours of Sunday morning, they brought him back — with whiplash marks on his body — and dumped him, still alive, by his coffee stand. A crowd gathered around, and a member of the brigade made a little speech of explanation.
19 Jun 2013, 6:26 pm
