UN Probes Allegations That Syrian Rebels Killed Dozens Of Captured Regime Soldiers In North

[Purveyor]

Last edited Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:27 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press

BEIRUT — United Nations experts are investigating allegations that rebels killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a village near Aleppo after they captured it from government troops, an incident that could amount to a war crime, the world body's human rights chief said Friday.

Navi Pillay said in a statement that a U.N team in the region is looking into reports about killings that followed the battle in Khan al-Assal in July. Pillay said the team has examined activists' videos and collected accounts from people in Aleppo on an incident that she called "deeply shocking."

While abuses by troops loyal to President Bashar Assad have been systematic and widespread throughout the two-year conflict, human rights groups have said the frequency and scale of rebel abuses also has increased in recent months. Specific allegations against opposition fighters include claims that rebels have routinely killed captured soldiers and suspected regime informers.

Rebels say any such violations are condemned and an unfortunate result of the brutal regime crackdown.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Activists+Rebel+infighting+Syria+between+Kurds/8741290/story.html

[Berlin Expat]

1. Here's a link to the same story

from the Montreal Gazette for DU readers.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Activists+Rebel+infighting+Syria+between+Kurds/8741290/story.html

[Purveyor]

3. Thanks. I edited the OP to include.

[John2]

2. Just who is

in control of rebel held areas in Aleppo, and who are the commanders for the Free Syrian Army? Isn't thats the main region they supposedly are in control of and where is General Idriss? The responsibility of any atrocities should fall on him and his commanders. That is if really he has an Army to control. As a military vet, that is where responsibility should really lie on any battlefield. I don't call this an Army at all. If we did that in the U.S. Army, I can assure you, we would have been arrested by now. Idriss is just a figure head to make it look like an Army.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Yep. The FSA is largely a fiction. They're just a bunch of guys with guns running around.

Loyal to whoever can pay and supply them. I think that's called warlordism.

[John2]

5. I'm also

hearing, that some people killed in this massacre might have been witnesses of the chemical attack committed by the rebels. The Russians claimed they already sent evidence from the area to the U.N. This is going to be interesting on what they find. I wouldn't trust anything the rebels say. They eat a persons body, kill a kid, kill priests, and starve innocent people. They execute prisoners before a U.N. team arrives to inspect allege chemical attacks. They install their own laws on the community and kill all who object. The latest atrocity flying over the internet is they freed a French journalist for a ransom of half a million dollars. And by the way, the journalist is spilling the beans about torture and executions of Christian Loyalists to Assad by the rebels. Now don't that beat all. These guys have a lot of guts and still believe people will keep believing them. They are their own worst enemies.