RT films ISIS cells in Syria where prisoners were tortured
RT crew has travelled to Syrian Hama province to film the chilling aftermath of Islamic State’s rule, and filmed torture cells where jihadists kept and mutilated those who refused to follow their ideology.
RT Arabic talked to Syrian soldiers who recently liberated eastern areas of the Hama province from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISUL) terrorists.
A horrifying example of IS’ legacy – a torture cell where extremists kept their prisoners – was exclusively filmed by RT.
“This is one of the prisons which they used for torturing people who didn’t want to follow their ideology,” a Syrian soldier said, pointing at a large cell.
He added that the jihadists had “special places for torturing prisoners, and they have jails for police officers.”
The Syrian Army captured the main terrorist stronghold in the area, which was heavily guarded, another Syrian soldier told RT. Islamic State militants “fought to the death to defend it,” he added.
Hama province, which has been largely freed from terrorist groups, was partly included on the list of de-escalation zones agreed on by guarantor countries Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
READ MORE: RT visits blood-chilling mass grave of ISIS victims (EXCLUSIVE)
The scenes in Hama were echoes of the documented atrocities of Islamic State’s presence in Syria.
In 2016, an RT Arabic crew travelled to a gorge just 50 kilometers north of Syrian city of Raqqa, once an IS stronghold, to examine a mass grave where scores of victims were executed.
“They would bring those still alive to the precipice, blindfold them and shoot above their heads to scare them. People would then start running and fall over the edge. They’d bring the bodies of others, covered in blankets, and throw them off,” local resident Abdel Halif Al-Jasim told RT.
In April 2016, the Syrian Army found a mass grave with dozens of corpses, women and children among them, in Palmyra.
Russia has been providing assistance for the Syrian forces fighting IS since 2015, with the Russian Air Force helping to free swathes of several Syrian provinces from jihadists.
September 30 marked the second anniversary of Russia’s military operation in Syria.
According to the latest data from the Russian Defense ministry, 87 percent of the country has been freed from the control of terrorist groups.
