Syria extremists financed by private Gulf donors carried out mass killings – HRW

Syria extremists financed by private Gulf donors carried out mass killings – HRW

At least 190 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage by Syrian rebels financed by private Gulf donors in an August 4 military offensive in the Latakia governorate, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

  At least 67 of the victims executed had lived in  government-aligned Alawite villages, HRW said in its report, “You Can Still See Their  Blood,” released Friday, which saw the events as the first  evidence of planned crimes against humanity perpetrated by  opposition forces.

  The killings took place when President Bashar Assad’s forces were  overwhelmed by the militants, who then proceeded to enter the 10  Alawite villages nearby, sometimes rounding up and executing  entire families, while taking others hostage.

Torture and decapitations were also testament to the aggravated nature of the military offensive, proof of which was gathered by HRW through reports, witness statements, hospital records and materials recorded by the rebels themselves.