Human rights groups have accused the Syrian rebels of carrying out mass killings of the pro-government's soldiers in their custody. The United Nations human rights body termed it a war crime based on a video footage showing what appeared to be anti-government rebels brutality beating up around 10 soldiers before lining them up on the ground and executing them with automatic rifles.
"It looks very likely that this is a war crime, another one," Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights said.
Speaking to journalists at Geneva, where the commission has its headquarters, Colville said the UN investigators have already collected many evidences of war crimes, both by Syrian army and the rebels, which could support prosecutions of those responsible by national or international tribunals.
"There should be no illusion that accountability will follow," Colville said.
The video, which began circulating on Thursday, is believed to have been made in Saraqeb, a town in Idlib Province in northern Syria. The prisoners were forced to lie next to or atop one another in a destroyed building that seemed like a military checkpoint. The rebels, whose real identity or affiliation were not clear, were heard shouting "Allah Akhbar!" or "God is great" as they kicked the captured prisoners and shot them with automatic rifles.
London-based Amnesty International also condemned the video and said it may depict a "potential war crime in progress."
"This shocking footage depicts a potential war crime in progress, and demonstrates an utter disregard for international humanitarian law by the armed group in question," said Ann Harrison, deputy director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa program.
