“Wanton human rights violations are also being committed by anti-Government groups. Accounts gathered by our monitoring team suggest that armed groups have apparently used civilians as human shields, and that abductions are increasing. The accounts include allegations that certain opposition groups have forced young women and minor girls to marry combatants. And we continue to receive reports of anti-Government groups committing gruesome crimes such as torture and extrajudicial executions.”
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Sometimes when skimming through news reports on Syria, one gets the impression that rebels are protecting civilians and that civilians are only killed by the Syrian army.
At the same time when civilians died in Gaza because of israeli military actions, lots of media reports were very fast in saying that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.
I am wondering why after 2 years of civil war in Syria, similar statements about syrian rebels are so rare in the media.