A video appearing to show Syrian rebels killing soldiers who had surrendered must be verified but appears to constitute a war crime that should be prosecuted, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
"Like other videos of this sort, it's difficult to verify immediately in terms of location, who's involved. We need to examine this carefully. It will be examined carefully," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing.
"But the allegations are that these these were soldiers who were no longer combatants. And therefore, at this point it looks very likely that this is a war crime, another one," he said.
This as the Syrian State Television reported that two bombs went off Friday in New Zahirah Southern Damascus causing several casualties.
Earlier, Syrian forces loyal to President
Bashar al-Assad have withdrawn from their last base near the northern town of
Saraqeb, further weakening his ability to fight rebels in the country's largest
city Aleppo, a violence monitoring group said on Friday.
Saraqeb straddles the junction of two main
highways leading to Aleppo and the pullout will make it harder for government
forces to reinforce or resupply Aleppo, where they have been battling with
rebels for control since late July.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said troops had retreated from Alwees, northwest of Saraqeb, leaving the
town and surrounding areas "completely outside the control of regime
forces".
Any convoys using the highways from
Damascus or the Mediterranean would be vulnerable to rebel attack. This would
force the army to use smaller rural roads or send supplies on a dangerous road
from Al-Raqqa in the east, according to the Observatory's director, Rami
Abdelrahman.
The Observatory said on Thursday that
rebels had seized three military positions around Saraqeb, killing at least 28
soldiers - at least eight of them in cold blood, according to Internet video
footage.
It was not immediately possible to verify
Wednesday's reported army withdrawal. Authorities restrict journalists' access
in Syria and state media made no reference to Saraqeb.
Meanwhile, a
5-year-old Syrian child died after being affected by smoke inhalation, when
a fire broke out on Friday in a tent housing Syrian refugees in Turkish
southern province of Hatay, a local newspaper reported.
On the other hand, the Syrian National Council accused Washington
on Friday of undermining the country's revolution by seeking to overhaul how
regime opponents are organized.
Two days ahead of key opposition
talks due in Qatar, the Syrian National Council lashed out at US criticism of
the group for not being fully representative of Syria's diverse dissident
groups.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton voiced frustration with the SNC this week, calling for a new more
expansive opposition that would include more activists from inside Syria.
International Positions:
A senior Russian diplomat on
Friday warned the West against trying to predetermine a future leadership of
Syria.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady
Gatilov said on Twitter that such attempts would contradict the peace plan for
Syria approved by world powers in Geneva in June.
US Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that the administration would push for a shakeup
in the Syria opposition leadership so that it better represents fighters on the
frontline. Washington believes that a revamped rebel leadership could rally
wider international support and prevent extremists from hijacking the
rebellion.
"Attempts by Western
sponsors of the Syrian opposition to enforce a list of the nation's future
leadership from the outside contradict the Geneva agreements," Gatilov
said. "The Geneva communique says that a transitional governing body
should be formed on the basis of mutual accord of the government and the
opposition."
In turn, UN Human Rights spokesman said that the
video of executions of Syrian soldiers needs to be verified, but it appears to be
"war crime", adding that the Syrian killings, if
verified, could be part of evidence for prosecution.
REUTERS/AP