U.N. Report Accuses Syrian Jihadists of Mass Executions

TIME Magazine

The report claims that both the rebels and government forces have been deliberately targeting civilians.

Jihadist rebels in Syria committed mass executions of civilians, according to a new U.N. report released Tuesday.

The U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry report was brought out just before a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, reports the BBC. It accused the group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) of carrying out mass slaughter in places such as a children’s hospital in the city of Aleppo, where people were detained before being executed.

The report also accused the Syrian government of increasingly using methods of killing that aim to deliberately target civilians, such as barrel bombs.

The civil war in Syria has been ongoing since March 2011 when violent clashes occurred between forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and those seeking to topple it. Since then allegations of imprisonment, torture and death have become commonplace, with international organizations accusing both sides of extreme human rights violations.

Responding to the report, ODFS Director, Ribal Al-Assad said:

“I am absolutely appalled by this most recent UN report which has sadly confirmed what we have known for a long time – that Syrian Jihadists are murdering people on a truly prolific scale.

These Jihadists, driven by their perverted ideology, will stop at nothing to achieve their aim of an Islamic caliphate state in Syria – we cannot and must not let this happen.

Furthermore, the use of ‘barrel bombs’ and increasingly indiscriminate methods by the regime are wholly inexcusable.

All these crimes must not go unnoticed, it is imperative that the international community brings all those who have committed such heinous acts to justice.

We need a diplomatic solution to the conflict and we need one now.”