(Reuters) - War crimes blamed on the Syrian opposition are predominantly
being carried out by foreign fighters, a U.N. human rights investigator said on
Monday, highlighting a deepening rift in the opposition that has been an
obstacle to peace talks.
"If you're going to look for the
(opposition) groups that are committing the worst crimes, look particularly for
the foreign fighters, where the foreign fighters are fighting," Karen
Koning Abuzayd told reporters in Geneva.
By contrast, Salim Idris, head of the
Western-backed Supreme Military Council that oversees a loose grouping of
rebels known as the Free Syrian Army, was trying to "infuse human rights
law" and train soldiers in the rules of war, she said.
Abuzayd is one of the four lead members of
the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on
Syria, a body set up by the
U.N. Human Rights Council two years ago to investigate war crimes and crimes
against humanity in the Syrian conflict.
Although most of the commission's evidence
has implicated forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, its reports this year
have directed increasing suspicion to opposition groups and are frequently
cited by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad.
The commission's contrasting views of Syria's
domestic opposition and the Jihadist foreign fighters may add to pressure on
efforts to bring all parties to the conflict together for peace talks at a
so-called "Geneva 2" conference.
Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N.
Commission of Inquiry on
Syria,
said there were now foreign fighters from about 20 countries in Syria including
some from Europe.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hope to agree a date for the conference
when they meet in New York at the end of September. International mediator
Lakhdar Brahimi is currently seeking to convene all parties possibly around
mid-October.
The conference guidelines set out by major
powers in June 2012 require all parties to agree to a ceasefire but leave it to
the Syrian people alone to determine their future through a transitional
authority. That gives the foreign fighters a duty to lay down their arms but no
say in the running of
Syria
once the conflict is over, making them a potential new enemy.
"The Syrian fighters, they say that only
the first of the wars is fighting the government, and the second one is getting
rid of these people. They don't want them," said Abuzayd.
Louay Meqdad, a spokesman for the Free
Syrian Army, said the Supreme Military Council was very clear and would not
condone any crime in Syria. He said the Free Syrian Army was short of resources
while militants were getting stronger, taking control of oilfields and other
valuable areas.
"We should face the problem and find
the solution. They are fighting against us, against the Free Syrian Army. They
killed some of our commanders," he told Reuters in Istanbul.
Diplomats say regional powers such as
Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are funding the foreign
fighters must agree to stop supporting them in order for a peace deal to be
struck at Geneva. In return, Syria's allies
Iran and
Russia
would have to stop supplying weapons to Assad's government.
However, there would be a risk that foreign
fighters would remain in Syria and keep fighting.
"We need somehow somebody who has
contacts with these foreign fighters who represent them in some way or
another," said a U.N. official.
"Stopping the violence entails stopping
these people," said a diplomat who expects to be involved in any Geneva 2
talks.
Source
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