Syria Rejects U.N. Charges of Crimes against Humanity

Syria on Tuesday flatly rejected U.N. charges of crimes against humanity and accused the world body of ignoring crimes it said were being committed by foreign-backed "terrorist groups".

"The foreign ministry, in a message sent to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, categorically rejected the new allegations made by the commission," the state news agency SANA said.

The ministry also accused the commission of being manipulated by "countries targeting Syria and of ignoring the terrorist crimes committed by armed groups," SANA reported.

Navi Pillay, the top human rights representative at the United Nations, said on Monday that the world body's inaction had "emboldened" Syria's government to unleash overwhelming force against civilians.

"The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicate that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," she told the U.N. General Assembly.