Independent International Commission
of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic  

I am actually trying to look at the UN panel report on Syria, which from today's press reports seems to draw a false equivalence between the violence of the government and opposition, and to locate the problem as one of lack of stability, and proclaiming an inevitably long civil war, typical ways in which the UN serve to protect governments from their people.

This sounds horrific:"There are fewer accounts of Government forces engaging in ground 
actions. Rather they continue shelling areas under anti-Government armed group 
control, endangering civilians who remain in these areas. Interviewees stated that 
joint pro-Government forces are conducting house-to-house searches in 
neighbourhoods used by the opposition such as Daraya in Damascus countryside 
and Mashari’a al-Arbaeen in Hama city."This is why hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled Syria, not because they are caught in crossfire, but because their government is shelling them. And where possible, there is a reign of terror.

But then rather than blame the government for the evolution of the conflict, we get this, "The risk of the Syrian conflict devolving from peaceful protests seeking political reform to a confrontation between ethnic and religious groups has been ever present. As battles between Government forces and anti-Government armed groups approach the end of their second year, the conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature." And then point to a report of shelling coming from "Alawite villages" (awareness of sectarian geography not being proof of its encouragement), one case of government troops being captured and the Alawites among them being executed, and one car bomb in an Alawite district (are the UN panel sectarian for...) without saying anything about who might have been targeted, are not comparable with the government's actions.

In the next section on Minorities there is a worrying report about the abduction of Christian pilgrims, but then we get reports like this one, which I think turned out to be a government attack. So we get a message of chaos everywhere, rather than one of government created divisions, and largely government violence, overwhelmingly that directed against civilians."On 29 October, a car bomb 
exploded outside a bakery in Jaramana, a predominantly Christian and Druze neighbourhood in Damascus."

If the procedures of these councils cannot be ascertained, suggesting that they don't conform to due process, and the resulting killings are summary executions, seems unreasonable. I don't think executing ordinary soldiers, even those that have killed, is right, but that's not the point here. "Investigations indicate that in some instances captured enemy fighters are brought before a Sharia council (al-Lajana al-Shariah) prior to their execution. Neither the substantive nor procedural framework of these councils could be ascertained, with one interviewee positing that, “only those with blood on their hands” are executed. It is a war crime to sentence or execute a person who has 
been captured, has surrendered, is injured or is otherwise hors de combat, without due process."

I should have put the numbers on these. As I understand it, when the government loses control of an area, it reacts with indiscriminate shelling (partly recorded in preceding paragraphs of this report). What exactly are the FSA to do to protect civilians, and why is it not the government to blame?43. "The evidence collected indicates that anti-Government armed groups consistently 
fail to distinguish themselves from the civilian population."

The legitimate aspiration of the Syrian people is to overthrow the government and pick a new one of their own, unencumbered with the spectre of the old régime, not to have the UN keep it on life support and poison the transition. If Russia finally realises Assad's number is up, there is a real danger of some such deal being stitched up. Conclusion 
47. "The war of attrition that is being fought in Syria has brought immeasurable destruction and human suffering to the civilian population. As the conflict drags on, the parties have become ever more violent and unpredictable, which has led to their conduct increasingly being in breach of international law. The sole way to bring 
about an immediate cessation of the violence is through a negotiated political settlement which meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."