syria-un-20130205 45

A/HRC/22/59 GE.13-10627 45 Annex IV [English only] Unlawful killing: “massacres”a 1. In paragraph 19 of resolution A/HRC/21/L.32, the Human Rights Council condemned in the strongest terms the increasing number of massacres taking place in Syria and requested the commission to investigate all massacres.b 2. The commission responded to the extended mandate by dedicating specific resources to the investigation. Considering the absence of a legal definition, the commission presents the following working definition of massacre. 3. A massacre is an intentional mass killing of civilians not directly participating in hostilities or hors de combat fighters by organized armed forces or groups in a single incident, in violation of international human rights or humanitarian law.c I. Government forces and affiliated militia A. Tremseh, 12 July 1. A massacre occurred in Tremseh, Hama, on 12 July, immediately prior to the current reporting period. Due to a lack of access to Syria, it was possible to collect more information only in the weeks and months following the massacre. The gravity of the events in Tremseh warrants its inclusion within this report. 2. The offensive of Tremseh appears to have been a Government intervention to root out anti-Government armed groups that had been involved in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings with Shabbiha, reportedly from the neighbouring Alawite town of Al- Safsafiyah. The operation was a continuation of a military campaign targeting populated urban areas north of Hama city, such as Khan Sheikhoun and Souran. 3. At 04:00, Government forces cordoned the town with checkpoints from three directions, the east, north and south. The western side of Tremseh is adjacent to Al- Safsafiyah. Supplies of electricity, water and communications were cut off. 4. At 05:00 on 12 July, FSA positions in the town came under attack by Government forces using shelling, helicopter gunships and ground troops. Credible accounts indicate that at 08:00 following the Government attack, Government ground forces and Shabbiha entered Tremseh from its western periphery, receiving support from the neighbouring villages of Selheb, Al-Safsafiyah, Tel Sekin, and Asila among others. The presence of a See A/HRC/21/50, Annex II for the applicable law. b A/HRC/21/L.32, Para. 19. c Thus included are multiple instances of the war crime of murder, and killings that result from conduct of hostilities in which civilians or the civilian population as such is the object of the attack, amounting to the war crime of attacking civilians. When murder is committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, perpetrated pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organisational policy, the commission of massacres can amount to the crime against humanity of murder