Syrian Rebels Committed War Crimes, Killed 190 Civilians: Report

By KARIN LAUB 10/11/13 01:31 AM ET EDT

An opposition fighter fires towards Syrian government forces in Maaret al-Numan in the Idlib province, Syria, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013. (AP Photo)

BEIRUT -- BEIRUT (AP) — Jihadi-led rebel fighters in Syria killed at least 190 civilians and abducted more than 200 during an offensive against pro-regime villages, committing a war crime, an international human rights group said Friday.

The Aug. 4 attacks on unarmed civilians in more than a dozen villages in the coastal province of Latakia were systematic and could even amount to a crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a 105-page report based on a visit to the area a month later.

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Witnesses said rebels went house to house, in some cases executing entire families and in other cases killing men and taking women and children hostages. The villagers belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam which forms the backbone of President Bashar Assad's regime — and which Sunni Muslim extremists consider heretics.

One survivor, Hassan Shebli, said he fled as rebels approached his village of Barouda at dawn, but was forced to leave behind his wife, who was unable to walk without crutches, and his 23-year-old son, who is completely paralyzed.

When Shebli returned days later, after government forces retook the village, he found his wife and son buried near the house and bullet holes and blood splatters in the bedroom, the New York-based group said.

The findings are bound to feed mounting Western unease about the tactics of some of those trying to topple Assad and about the growing role of jihadi rebels, including foreign fighters linked to al-Qaida.

U.N. war crimes investigators have accused both sides in Syria's civil war, now in its third year, of wrongdoing, though they said earlier this year that the scale and intensity of rebel abuses hasn't reached that of the regime.

The new allegations of rebel abuses come at a time when the regime is regaining some international legitimacy because of its apparent cooperation with an internationally mandated program to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile by mid-2014.

Lama Fakih of Human Rights Watch said the rebel abuses in Latakia "certainly amount to war crimes," and may even rise to the level of crimes against humanity.

The group said more than 20 rebel groups participated in the Latakia offensive.

Five groups, including two linked to al-Qaida and others with jihadi leanings, led the campaign, which appeared to have been funded in part by private donations raised in the Persian Gulf, the report said.

Human Rights Watch appealed to the Gulf states to crack down on such money transfers. It also urged Turkey, a rear base for many rebel groups, to prosecute those linked to war crimes and restrict the flow of weapons and fighters. The Western-backed Syrian opposition must cut ties with the groups that led the Latakia offensive, the report said.

Most of the alleged attacks on civilians occurred on Aug. 4, said the group. The campaign began with rebel fighters seizing three regime posts and then the villages. After the regime positions fell, no pro-government troops were left in the Alawite villages. It took government forces two weeks to recapture all the villages.

Human Rights Watch said at least 67 of the 190 civilians slain by the rebels were killed at close range or while trying to flee. There are signs that most of the others were also killed intentionally or indiscriminately, but more investigation is needed, the group said.

The rebels seized more than 200 civilians from the Alawite villages, most of them women and children, and demanded to trade the hostages for prisoners held by the regime.

The HRW report said the rebel groups that led the offensive included Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, both linked to al-Qaida; Ahrar al-Sham; Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar; and Suqqor al-Izz.

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke rises from buildings due to heavy artillery shelling in Barzeh, a district of Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

In this frame grab from video taken Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013, and provided by "CBS This Morning," Syrian President Bashar Assad responds to a question from journalist Charlie Rose during an interview in Damascus, Syria. Assad warned in the interview broadcast Monday on CBS there will be retaliation against the U.S. for any military strike launched in response to the alleged chemical weapons attack. Assad said, "You should expect everything." (AP Photo/CBS This Morning)

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem speaks to the media after his talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, unseen, in Moscow on Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Italian journalist Domenico Quirico (C), who was both kidnapped in Syria in early April, answers to journalists after disembark from the airplane on September 9, 2013 at Ciampino military airport in Rome. (ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images)

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian military solider fires a heavy machine gun during clashes with rebels in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

This Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a church in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters gained control of Maaloula, Syrian activists said Sunday. Government media provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces were winning. It was impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic. A poster with the portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad is seen bottom right. (AP Photo/SANA)

This citizen journalism image provided by The Syrian Revolution against Bashar Assad which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Free Syrian army fighter stands on a damaged military tank in Zabadani, near Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/The Syrian Revolution against Bashar Assad)

A Syrian man, who requested not to be named, wounded in the ongoing violence in Syria, is hospitalized at Ziv Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Safed, Israel. The Syrian man is one of 89 victims of the Syrian civil war who have been treated at the hospital this year. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party holds a portrait of late Syrian President Hafez Assad the father of Bashar Assad during a demonstration against a possible military strike in Syria, in front of the United Nations headquarters, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

This citizen journalism image provided by The Syrian Revolution against Bashar Assad which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Free Syrian army fighter stands on a damaged military tank in Zabadani, near Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/The Syrian Revolution against Bashar Assad)

This Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a general view of Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

This Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows the entrance of Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian military solider fires a heavy machine gun during clashes with rebels in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria.(AP Photo/SANA)

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian military solider fires a heavy machine gun during clashes with rebels in Maaloula village, northeast of the capital Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

Israeli soldiers are seen near an Iron Dome battery near Jerusalem, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Gil Yohanan)

A Syrian living in India wraps herself in a Syrian flag and participates in a protest march against a possible U.S.-led attack on Syria, towards the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

This Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows damaged residential buildings from heavy fighting between Free Syrian army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC)

A smuggler breaks through the border as he enters Syrian territory near Cilvegozu, Turkey, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

In this citizen journalism image provided by the United media office of Arbeen which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians inspect damages of a church due to heavy shelling in Arbeen town, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/United media office of Arbeen)

In this Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013 image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, black smoke rises from buildings after a bomb hit Binnish town, Idlib province, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

In this Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013 image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, plums of smoke rise due to heavy shelling in Binnish town, Idlib province, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) AP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/syrian-rebels-war-crimes-report_n_4083204.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D389775