BBC removes Syrian opposition war crime video

ISTANBUL

A member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) opens fire on a government forces helicopter flying low over the Saif al-Dawla neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on August 14, 2012. AFP Photo

British media giant BBC recently removed a video showing members of the Syrian opposition loading bombs into a pro-regime hostage's car without his knowledge before asking him to head toward an army base to be released, daily Hürriyet reported.The footage, obtained by a New York Times correspondent, follows the hostage, a regime supporter, as he is being led to believe that he is being released in a hostage exchange before he is blindfolded and put inside a vehicle.The hostage, clueless of the bombs loaded up in the truck, is then told to drive toward an army base nearby. The hostage escaped death when the bomb failed to explode.The BBC removed the video from its page a short time after it caused a strong reaction worldwide, without providing any official explanation. The BBC deleted the video from its YouTube page as well.The BBC has been the target of recent allegations that it lacks objectivity in its coverage of Syria’s civil war.The BBC previously published a photo reportedly supplied by the Syrian opposition showing the corpses of children that allegedly belonged to children who were killed by regime forces in Houla. The photo, however, originally dated back to 2003 and was shot during the war in Iraq.