The militants brought the two men into a square in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, then announced their punishment for failing to attend Friday prayers: 25 lashes delivered by a hose-wielding militant that left their backs covered in welts and dark bruises.

The whipping, captured on video as dozens of men and boys watched, was carried out two years ago by the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham, or Free Men of Syria, an Islamic militant group with links to al-Qaida.

But since then, the group has been shifting tactics, seeking to portray itself as a moderate force fighting both President Bashar Assad's troops and the extremists of the Islamic State group. Backed by U.S.-ally Turkey, Ahrar al-Sham has sought to recast itself as a player acceptable to Washington and the West, while distancing itself from al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria and its jihadi ideology.

To that end, Labib Al Nahhas, the group's self-styled foreign affairs director, has written opinion pieces in the Washington Post and Britain's Daily Telegraph that present Ahrar al-Sham as a moderate alternative and potential partner for Western governments.

The group has also vowed to defeat what it calls the Russian "occupation" of Syria after Moscow began launching airstrikes on insurgents last week. In a post on Twitter, its leader, Muhannad al-Masri, warned: "The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, where it faced its end, and its boys will face the same end in the land of the Levant, God willing."

Unlike the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham is not on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. However, Washington remains suspicious because of its links to al-Qaida, especially since one of the group's founders was known to be close to al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

Read more: AP