Piccinin said in an interview with La Libre Belgique that the Army’s militant groups, who used to fight bravely for democracy, are now breaking apart, with some insurgents going back home, some joining the radical al-Nusra Front, and yet others staying. But those who choose to fight on, he added, are more bandit than Islamist.

 The former hostage, who went through hell over the past five months and even faced two mock executions, stressed that the Assad army had never gassed civilians. “Neither the Assad regime nor any allied grouping used these [chemical] weapons,” Piccinin stated.

 After their release on Sunday, Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin and Italian journalist Domenico Quirico were flown to Rome, where they were met by Italy’s foreign minister. Rumour has it they were freed in exchange for a ransom, though officials have denied this allegation.

 The Belgian national has already been kidnapped in Syria before. In May 2012, Syrian rebels held Piccinin hostage for six days, but eventually set him free when they felt there was no money in it. He claimed he had “been speaking in favour of the just fight for democracy in Syria” since 2012, but changed his mind after his recent experience.

 “It pains me to say it because I’ve been a fierce supporter of the Free Syrian Army in its rightful fight for democracy since 2012,” Piccinin told the Belgium’s RTL radio station.

 Freed captives prove chemical attack was Syria rebels’ provocation

 Italian journalist Domenico Quiric and Belgian teacher Pierre Piccinin, who were flown home yesterday after spending five months in Syrian rebel’s hostage, have indicated that Syrian insurgents had evidently stood behind the gas attack on a village near Damascus.

 The former hostages said in a number of interviews to western news outlets they had overheard an English-language Skype conversation between the rebels, who claimed that opposition forces were responsible for the lethal August 21 attack that killed over a thousand civilians.

 “It is a moral duty to say this. The government of Bashar al-Assad did not use sarin gas or other types of gas in the outskirts of Damascus,” Piccinin told Belgium’s RTL radio station.

 He said the conversation suggested that opposition intended to force the West to intervene in the Syrian civil war.

 “They said that the gas attack on two neighborhoods of Damascus was launched by the rebels as a provocation to lead the West to intervene militarily,” Quirico told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper. He also said one of their captors identified himself as a Free Syrian Army general.

 Peccinin told the radio station it would be “insane and suicidal for the West to support these people,” while Quirico stressed the aim of rebels was to create a caliphate and extend it to the entire Middle East and North Africa.

 In a number of news appearances, Quirico and Piccinin also shared stories of how they were subjected to two mock executions, beaten, and starved during their five-month captivity. They tried to escape twice but failed, prompting the rebel group to punish them.

 Voice of Russia, RT, RIA