syria-un-20140212 34

A/HRC/25/65 34 6. On 5 March 2013, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade executed nine members of the Syrian armed forces who had been captured and were hors de combat. The troops were detained during an attack on a military position in Jamlah village. The captured soldiers were subsequently executed by gunfire. Khan Al-Assal, Aleppo, 22-23 July 2013 7. On 22 and 23 July NSAGs captured and executed more than 50 government soldiers and a number of civilians during an attack on the town of Khan al-Assal, outside Aleppo. Video material collected online indicates that the detainees were executed by gunfire after their capture by members of the Ansar al-Khilafa Brigade. Al Hiffa region, Latakia, 4-5 August 2013 8. During the first week of August 2013, more than 100 civilians were killed during a military operation conducted by non-State armed groups. The killings occurred in the context of a military attack that started on 4 August 2013, in which a number of non-State armed groups participated. The operation targeted a cluster of Alawite villages in Al Hiffa, and was referred to by some groups as Operation Liberation of the Coast, or Campaign of the Descendants of Aisha the Mother of Believers by other groups. The main participating non-State armed groups in the operation were Jabhat Al-Nusra, Suqor Al-‘Iz, Ahrar Al-Sham, Liwa' Al-Mouhajireen and Harakat Sham Al-Islam, as well as Soqoor Al Sahel Brigade and Western Central Front of SMC. Small local groups from local Sunni villages also participated. 9. Non-State armed groups first attacked a military position on a hilltop around 500 meters from the villages. The position was equipped with tank, rocket launcher and other heavy weaponry, and had been used to fire artillery on the opposition held town of Salma and other areas. After capturing this and other military positions in the area, the fighters moved to attack the nearby villages, including Inbatah, Al-Hamboushiyah and Blouta, in some places engaging Syrian forces in combat, but also firing indiscriminately at civilians and civilian houses. Civilians were killed during this assault, while others were killed while escaping. 10. The victims included men, women and children. During the attack, armed non-State groups also abducted an estimated 200 women and children. Their whereabouts remain unknown. The discovery of mass graves was reported after Government forces regained control of the villages around 16 August 2013. Victims were killed by gunshot or by sharp objects. Several bodies were decapitated, burned or otherwise mutilated. 11. Statements from participating commanders as well as material available online strongly suggest that this specific operation received a financial contribution of 400,000 Euros from an identified individual. A second person of unknown nationality contributed 150,000 Euros to the operation. Al-Madmouma, Idlib, 26 August 2013 12. On 26 August 2013, several members of a non-State armed group affiliated to Ahrar Al-Sham, attacked the village of Al-Madmouma, near Ma'aret Al-Nu'man. During the night, armed men entered a house and killed 16 civilians, including six children, three women and two elderly men. The killings occurred in the context of disputes between the group and a tribe present in the area. Maksar Al-Husan, Homs, 10 September 2013 13. On 10 September 2013, 18 civilians were killed in Maksar Al-Husan in the context of a military campaign against a group of three Alawite villages nearby. Non-State armed groups affiliated with Jabhat Al-Nusra and Ahrar Al-Sham Movement conducted the assault. Victims included several elderly women and men, as well as children