UN panel finds Assad regime, militia guilty of crimes
Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and pro-government shabiha fighters have perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity on Syrian civilians, a UN expert panel concluded Wednesday in a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. It blamed Assad’s government and allied militia for the killing of more than 100 civilians in the village of Houla in May, nearly half of them children, and said the murders, unlawful killing, torture, sexual violence and indiscriminate attacks “indicate the involvement at the highest levels of government.”
Rebel armed groups were also found guilty of war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, but to a less degree and scale.
Reuters reports an air strike by a Syrian jet Wednesday killed 80 people, injured 150 in the town of Azaz.