Reuters
October 11, 2013
Syrian rebels killed at least 190 civilians and took more than 200
hostage during an offensive in Latakia province in August, Human Rights
Watch said on Friday, in what it calls the first evidence of crimes
against humanity by opposition forces.
HRW said many of the dead had been executed by militant groups, some
linked to al-Qaida, who overran army positions at dawn on August 4 and
then moved into 10 villages nearby where members of President Bashar
Assad’s Alawite sect lived.
In its first government-sanctioned trip into Syria during the
2-1/2-year conflict, New York-based HRW has documented a series of
sectarian mass killings by Assad’s foes during a broader campaign in
which Western-backed rebels took part.
In some cases, entire families were executed or gunned down as they
fled, according to a report titled “You Can Still See Their Blood”.
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