Brutality of Syrian Rebels Posing Dilemma in West

 "But, they said, one of his tactics has been to promise to his fighters what he calls “the extermination” of Alawites — the minority Islamic sect to which the Assad family belongs, and which Mr. Issa blames for Syria’s suffering.

 This sentiment may have driven Mr. Issa’s decision to execute his prisoners in the video, his former aide said. The soldiers had been captured when Mr. Issa’s fighters overran a government checkpoint north of Idlib in March.

 Their cellphones, the former aide said, had videos of soldiers raping Syrian civilians and looting.

 Mr. Issa declared them all criminals, he said, and a revolutionary trial was held. They were found guilty."

 I'd suggest that the evidence is that he had them executed because they had raped civilians, and that his 300 fighters are in any case not representative of 80-85% of the rebels, and that the only reason why groups like his thrive at all is because the majority have had no funding from the West.