Amnesty International on Wednesday (September 19th) accused Syrian government forces of waging "relentless, indiscriminate" attacks against the Syrian people.
The London-based rights group said "civilians, many of them children, are the main victims of a campaign of relentless and indiscriminate attacks by the Syrian army."
Amnesty said the findings are based on "first-hand field investigations carried out in the first half of September".
During that period, attacks killed "166 civilians, including 48 children and 20 women, and injured hundreds in 26 towns and villages" in the north-western regions of Idlib and Jabal al-Zawiya, and in the northern area of Hama.
Amnesty said it has new evidence "of a pattern which has emerged in recent weeks in areas where government forces, pushed into retreat by opposition forces, are now indiscriminately bombing and shelling lost territory -- with disastrous consequences for the civilian population".
Civilians are being "killed or injured in their homes, while running for cover, or in the very places where they had sought refuge from the bombardments", Amnesty said.
The report cited the September 16th killings in which eight civilians, including five children, were killed and many more injured in a series of air strikes in Kafr Awayed in Jabal al-Zawiya. Seven of the victims were reportedly killed at a wedding party and in nearby houses, and a six-year-old boy was killed while buying bread.
Such attacks constitute "war crimes", the group said, calling on the UN Security Council to refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court.
The group also warned armed opposition groups that the "fact that government forces violate [international humanitarian law] does not excuse similar grave violations on their part".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 173 people were killed in Syria on Tuesday, with more than 27,000 fatalities since the conflict broke out in March 2011. The United Nations puts the toll at over 20,000.
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READER COMMENTS
عبدالمجيد عبدالرحمن
2012-9-24
The crimes of Bashaar against the Syrians are countless and cannot be imagined or borne by any human being who has a heart in this world. The affiliated militias working for the Syrian regime, in collaboration with the intelligence, kill the children in retaliation for their parents to force parents to sign confessions attributing the offenses committed against them to the terrorist armed group. So far, Bashaar Assad's Forces continue to kill the protesters in several Syrian cities, especially in the city of Homs, Aleppo, and Daraa, and committed the dirtiest crimes which cannot be imagined against the Syrian citizens. He and his assistants spread mischief on earth and have committed the ugliest bloody massacres. The human rights organization is still powerless. They are talking about it, but they do not provide a fair trial so far. This dog even justifies his crimes that there is a group of gunmen from terrorist groups and groups belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria conducting sabotage and that they must get rid of them. So for what crime did you kill the innocent children who are running in the streets out of fear and with tears pouring down from the horror of what they see? You see people dragging the dead bodies by the legs and they carry them on their backs. You see floods of blood and the heart is appalled by the scenes that it sees. The whole world stands as if watching a scary film, enjoying it and waiting for more bloody surprises, and none wants to move or pay attention to these poor people. The international organizations and the international courts are not moving. What are you waiting to happen more than these massacres?
حسين عمران
2012-9-24
Words of truth must be said even to the unjust Sultan: "Where are you, Arab rulers?" Was the land narrow around you? Were Allah's blessings reduced? Why did you refuse to receive your brothers in Arabism and religion,from the people of Syria? Our religion commands us to cooperate and come together, and your country is ready to support and back them. Unfortunately you Arab rulers evade responsibility and humanity, and I swear by Allah he will increase your country and not reduce it. The people of Syria are the producing fighting people, and above all fighting people who deserve respect and appreciation. Did you read in the book of Allah Almighty "Fight and Allah will give you victory." How can you be satisfied with the laceration of Muslim women and to lose and kill children before they were born, while they are in their mothers' wombs? What to you expect to have happen more than that to make you want to help your brothers and your religion to victory? You have heard of the decision of President Morsi to treat Syrian students the same as Egyptian ones in terms of expenses. These people need to feel safe and contained. This is a country being attacked by its own ruler simply because they told him they had enough of the injustice. I say to you, enough of the injustice also, as you with your silence and shortness are protecting injustice also.
عمير راشد
2012-9-24
O Arabs, have you not heard about the woman who entered hell inside a cat she detained? Therefore, what do you think about the person who takes good things from Muslims and leaves them in doom to be killed and their homes burned? Why do you ask Allah to save you, give you victory, and bring to you your demands, while you are not helping his worshipers? Have mercy on earth, have mercy from heaven.
خيرالله عبدالله مطر
2012-9-21
What Bashar is doing to our brothers in Syria is the pinnacle of crimes against humanity with the killing of innocent people for simply opposing his regime, and he has set loose his army against the innocent victims among our Syrian brothers, including women, old people, children and the cream of youths in the country that are thrown in jail and detention centers, and they are tortured in ways that are barbaric to say the least. This is an act that can only come from someone that is devoid of sentiment, and who is only concerned about his own self, and his delusion makes him believe that he will win in the end, but the thing that indicates that his end is near is what has been taking place for a while regarding the defection of military personnel who had some conscience left in them and who were fighting on his side, and after having seen their families being killed at their hands they joined the Free Syrian Army. He is so criminal that he would send soldiers to the places where they live in order to shell the innocent and peaceful people there without any reason, and if that person had any humanity left in him he would not have stayed all this time ruling a country whose people do not want him. In addition to this, he is murdering them in heinous and horrendous ways, and he is bombing them as though they are his enemies and not a people that he is part of. It would have been best for him to leave this office without causing the loss of innocent lives that will continue to curse him until the Day of Judgment. But this is not strange for someone whose father sold the Golan Heights to the Israelis before him. We can only pray for our brothers that Allah will have mercy on them and protect them from this individual.
عبدالله حسام عزمي
2012-9-20
Two years have passed and this criminal does nothing except engage in bloodshed without regard for the sanctity of religion or for the souls and blood. The Syrian revolution has been going on for close to two years, and Bashar, who is a coward, increases his tyranny, but God waits but never forgets. What sins are the children, women, and old people guilty of? He has no sanctity and there are no laws that may deter him, and we find nothing from the International Community except the silence or the situation which is called a neutral situation, but it is only support for Bashar. The children there do not know the meaning of childhood and the child does not dream about a doll; he only dreams about staying in his home till the morning. The fathers and mothers watch their children being killed and slaughtered every day and they are not able to do anything; but God will help the right eventually. The persons like Bashar are the result of years that have gone through when the presidents thought that these countries were their own, and they thought that the destinies of the people were in their hands. They corrupted the countries. The free and proud Syrians will not stay silent anymore, because delusion is for an hour, but the truth is eternal. The silence of Arabs regarding what they see daily in terms of massacres is evidence that the Arab leaders are a group of killers who make laws as they wish, claiming that they are legal, but God will not allow them and they will go into the dustbin of history.
شهير ابراهيم حسين
2012-9-20
Any fair person who is following Arab politics will not deny that Bashar has crossed the red lines and violated all human rights, even animal rights. There is no way to talk in view of the scenes of dead and wounded people and the violation perpetrated upon the dead bodies in a brutal way. Bashar has proved that he does not deserve his name, but he is the most cowardly person. The biggest proof of the crimes of Bashar is the confession of persons close to Bashar and the fact that they are leaving him day after day. We find that the criminals confess that he is cruel and he proved that he has violated human rights. No doubt that Bashar is a war criminal against the unarmed people, who are helpless.
موسى رضا القصاب
2012-9-20
Most of the Arab countries are now ready to help and support the Syrians to stop the bloodshed and to achieve the principles they obviously demand, in which their new and free country will emerge after all the massacres, and the war will end, along with the era of Bashar and his regime. They all should search for a proper solution to end this crisis that the Syrians have suffered from. We all know that the Syrians need full support from us, and clear promotion. The bloodshed in Syria will not be stopped without strong intervention from all countries and from all of us.