U.N. Report Accuses Syrian Jihadists of Mass Executions

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.

[BBC]