Syrians Claim Journalist James Foley Was Actually Executed A Year Ago

Did American journalist James Foley’s captors savagely kill him on video last year—and not recently, as terrorists have claimed?

Those are the shocking allegations of the Syrian government, whose leader, Bashar al-Assad, has been battling rebels, including the US-backed Free Syrian Army, in a bloody civil war for over three years now.

“James Foley was arrested by the Free Syrian Army and he was sold to ISIS,” says al-Assad’s spokesperson, Bouthaina Shabaan.

COVERAGE: British Ambassador Peter Westmacott Says Intelligence Are ‘Close’ To Identifying James Foley’s Killer

“James Foley was killed a year ago, not now, they ISIS only released the pictures now, but he was killed a year ago,” continues Shabaan of the 40-year-old war reporter who died after the US government refused to pay a $132 million ransom.

“We have definite information, the UN has the information.”

However, past reports seem to indicate there may be some problems with Syria’s new claims, including the fact that Frenchman Nicolas Henin says that after getting kidnapped in June 2013 he was held with Foley for seven months.

COVERAGE: Siblings Of Executed Journalist James Foley Blast White House As It’s Revealed The Family Watched The Execution Video

In other developments, British ambassador Peter Westmacott told CNN Sunday that intelligence agencies, using advanced technology such as voice recognition software, are “close” to identifying Foley’s killer, which could shed new light on the situation.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the man who appeared on the video with Foley, dubbed “Jihad John,” seemed to have a British accent, and a leading suspect in the brutal beheading is 23-year-old former rapper-turned-terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary.