Now Lebanon - Syria forces conducting summary executions, says HRW, April 10, 2012

Syrian security forces and pro-regime militias have executed more than 100 civilians and rebel fighters in attacks on protest hubs since late 2011, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

Many of the summary and extrajudicial executions were carried out last month, and at least 85 of those killed were residents who never took part in fighting, including women and children, said the New York-based watchdog.

HRW, which made the allegations in a 25-page report based on the accounts of witnesses, urged the United Nations Security Council to ensure such crimes are documented.

"In a desperate attempt to crush the uprising, Syrian forces have executed people in cold blood, civilians and opposition fighters alike," HRW emergencies researcher Ole Solvang said in a statement.

"They are doing it in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, evidently not concerned about any accountability for their crimes."

The report said many of the executions occurred in the flashpoint provinces of Homs and Idlib, among them "at least 47 people, mainly women and children" in the city of Homs on March 11 and 12.

It said that in such cases, the security forces acting alone or together with Shabiha militiamen executed people trying to flee, shot or stabbed people in their homes, or executed residents while conducting house searches.

In the report, one resident of Homs' Baba Amr district described how the army executed his brother and four of his neighbors when they overran the city on March 2.

"Louai, who asked that his real name not be used for fear of reprisals, said that the army first entered his neighbors’ house, dragged the four men who were there outside, and slaughtered them with knives in front of their families.”

"The soldiers then came into Louai's house, and, when he and his brother raised their hands, shot at them both, wounding Louai and killing his brother," said HRW.

The watchdog appealed to the Security Council to ensure any UN mission mandated to oversee a peace plan drawn up by international envoy Kofi Annan is allowed to collect evidence of such crimes.

The plan on ending the year-long bloodshed in Syria appeared to be in jeopardy on Monday, less than 24 hours before government forces were supposed to start pulling back their armor from protest hubs.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon


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