SWITZERLAND: Islamist militants join rebels in Syria, radicalising fighters, U.N. investigators warn

Record ID: 281571

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: Islamist militants join rebels in Syria, radicalising fighters, U.N. investigators warn
  • Date: 17th September 2012
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR PAULO PINHEIRO ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE FOLLOWED BY CO-INVESTIGATOR KAREN KONING ABUZAYD JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATOR PAULO PINHEIRO SAYING: "We consider that one of the most alarming and scary elements of this protracted war is the p
  • Embargoed: 2nd October 2012 13:00
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  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1GSXVF3X6QLIGN94IT0U9EXD
  • Story Text: United Nations investigators reported on Monday (September 17) the "alarming" presence of Islamist militants in Syria, some joining the rebels and others operating independently.
    Paulo Pinheiro, the Brazilian expert leading the team of human rights investigators, told reporters at a press conference in Geneva, "We consider that one of the most alarming and scary elements of this protracted war is the presence of those elements because sometimes they are not fighting for the same objectives as the armoured groups of the Free Syrian Army. They have their own agenda, their own agenda, they are sort of loose cannon. Then we decide to call the attention of the Human Rights Council to this danger."
    He said some recent bomb attacks in Syria could have been carried out by some of these groups.

    "We have a suspicion that the use of IED's (improvised explosive devices) are the expertise of some of these groups. I think that the inclusion of this case in our report is to invite the Human Rights Council and international community to be awake to the dangers that this can have for the future of Syria" Pinheiro told reporters.
    He urged the members of U.N. Security Council to work together to find a political solution.

    "What we say is that there is no military solution for this crisis and it's a war that not one side will be able to win" Pinheiro said.
    The investigator's team interviewed more than 1,100 victims, refugees and defectors in the past year. Pinheiro presented the team's latest report, issued a month ago, saying both Syrian government forces and allied militia have committed war crimes including the murder and torture of civilians in what appears to be a state-directed policy.
    More than 20,000 people have been killed in the 18-month-old conflict. A further 1.2 million have been uprooted within Syria and more than 250,000 have fled abroad, according to the United Nations.
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