SYRIAN ARMY defectors have killed at least 27 loyalist soldiers and security personnel during fighting in the southern province of Deraa, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
If the toll is confirmed, this would be one of the highest daily tolls for Syrian government forces during nine months of unrest.
The shootings of troops by defectors coincided with publication of an 88-page report by Human Rights Watch, which said Syrian army commanders had ordered troops to fire indiscriminately at unarmed protesters.
The report, By All Means, in interviews with 60 deserters, said they had named 74 military and security officers “who allegedly ordered, authorised or condoned widespread killings, torture and unlawful arrests”.
Anna Neistat, associate director for emergencies at Human Rights Watch, said: “Defectors gave us names, ranks and positions of those who gave the orders to shoot and kill, and each and every official named in this report, up to the very highest levels of the Syrian government, should answer for their crimes against the Syrian people.”
Ms Neistat recommended that the UN Security Council “should ensure accountability by referring Syria to the International Criminal Court”.
“The defectors’ statements leave no doubt that the Syrian security forces committed widespread and systematic abuses, including killings, arbitrary detention and torture, as part of state policy,” the group said.
All the defectors interviewed said there were standing orders to halt protests “by all means necessary” during briefings to units ahead of deployment.
The deserters said they interpreted this as “authorisation to use lethal force”. They pointed out that they had been issued with live ammunition rather than instruments for crowd control. According to the defectors, they were told they would not be held accountable.
“In some cases, officers . . . participated in the killings,” Human Rights Watch stated.
The Syrian government has blamed armed gangs supported from abroad for the violence.
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