Rebel forces in Syria committed "crimes against humanity": Human Rights Watch

Rebel forces in Syria killed around 190 civilians and seized over 200 hostages during a military offensive in August, according to Human Rights Watch.

According to a report by the US-based group, the deaths occurred in villages inhabited predominantly by members of president Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect near the coastal city of Latakia.

The group added the findings strongly suggested "crimes against humanity were committed".

It had earlier documented atrocities by pro-government forces.

The report called on the UN to impose an arms embargo on all groups where there was credible evidence of their involvement in war crimes.

The attack documented by Human Rights Watch highlighted the clear problem faced by countries opposed to Bashar al-Assad - the rebels whose cause they shared were accused of the same kinds of crimes as the president they were trying to bring down.

Though there might have been a difference in scale, the impact, however, was similar.

The west had tried to address the problem by a divisive approach, providing support to the mainstream Free Syrian Army, while simultaneously seeking to prevent money and weapons reaching hardline Islamists and jihadists linked to al-Qaeda.

This, however appeared to do little to harm the Islamist rebels' ability to fight, as they had their own sources of support, including funding from individuals in the Gulf.

The allegations in the 105-page report seem to squarely implicate the rebels in a large-scale, sectarian-fuelled massacre.

''These abuses were not the actions of rogue fighters,'' said Joe Stork, acting Middle East director, Human Rights Watch, in a statement on the group's website.

''This operation was a coordinated, planned attack on the civilian population in these Alawite villages,'' the
statement added.

The report comes as a fresh blow for fractious opposition forces struggling with deep rifts within their ranks as also the increasing influence of hard-line Islamist groups, including several affiliated with Al Qaeda.

The 14-day "operation to liberate the coast," as it was termed by some rebel factions, had been praised by opposition leaders in the summer as a push to seize Qardaha, the ancestral home of the Assad clan.

General Salim Idriss, head of the US-backed Free Syrian Army, said in a YouTube video as he inspected the rebel forces in Lataka, that the group would continue to the work with great initiative to liberate the entire coast.