Photographs of the bloodied face of a 14-year-old boy executed in front of his parents by jihadist rebels in northern Syria have thrown into stark relief the sometimes extreme justice meted out in rebel-held areas. Fighters of Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria accused Mohammad Qattaa of blasphemy but a human rights group said he had done nothing more than use a common Arabic phrase that makes reference to the Prophet Mohammed's name.

Japan will extend nonmilitary aid to people in rebel-held areas in Syria in cooperation with rebel aid groups and nongovernmental organizations, the government said Tuesday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering unveiling the plan at a meeting next Monday and Tuesday of leaders from the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries in Northern Ireland, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.

Syrian rebels made fresh advances on Monday in their battle to seize the Minnigh airbase in northern Syria, a monitoring group said. "Opposition fighters have seized the radar tower in the Minnigh airbase," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "Fierce clashes have raged in the airbase since dawn Sunday," he added. State news agency SANA said the rebel assault had been repulsed. "Troops from our heroic army stopped terrorist groups from assaulting the Minnigh army airbase," the news agency said.

Exhausted by a gruelling five-day trek to reach safety in Lebanon over rocky mountains and valleys, Mohammad from war-torn Syria had to walk despite injuries to his leg while hiding from regime troops. Wounded in Qusayr, Mohammad, 35, is now being treated in a rudimentary hospital in Minieh, northern Lebanon, after Syrian troops and Hezbollah seized control of his town last Wednesday. For fear of retribution, Mohammad refused to reveal his real name. He was injured in shelling on Qusayr in central Syria on June 5, just hours before the border town fell out of rebel control.