Britons accused of Syria atrocities

Britons make up most of the foreign members in Syria's most violent terror group, a senior rebel leader says.

In a letter to The Times, Brig-Gen Abdulellah al-Basheer of the Free Syrian Army asks for help in curbing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

He claims the ISIL attacks opposition forces, not the Assad regime

UK fighters are involved in activities including beheadings, crucifixions and ill-treatment of women, he adds.

In his letter, General al-Basheer writes that ignoring the problem could lead to British extremists returning home to "continue on their pernicious path of destruction".

Last week father-of-two Mashudur Choudhury became the first person in the UK to be convicted of terrorist offences in connection with the conflict in Syria.

'Increasingly brutal threat'

Using the example of Choudhury, General al-Basheer writes: "He is one of many. They are not freedom fighters. They are terrorists."

He says that while the majority of non-Syrian members in the "predominantly foreign" ISIL, a Sunni Islamist group, are from Britain, there are fighters from Germany and France.

He says there are also members from a range of countries across the Middle East, Africa and the Gulf and they pose an "increasingly brutal threat".

He writes: "We the Syrian people now experience beheadings, crucifixions, beatings, murders, outdated methods of treating women, an obsolete approach to governing society."

"Many who participate in these activities are British.

"The UK and US governments must support us to defeat terrorism in Syria and prevent it from being exported to Europe and the US."

Thousands of people have been killed in the Syrian conflict and millions displaced.

An estimated 500 Europeans are now fighting in Syria, according to the EU's anti-terror chief.

Britons accused of Syria atrocities

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