U.N. Rights Panel on Syria Slams Post-Ceasefire Violence

The U.N.-appointed panel tasked with investigating rights abuses in Syria on Monday voiced concern over reports of post-ceasefire shelling by government forces.

The Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it had received accounts that the Khaldieh neighborhood and other districts of Homs had been bombarded since Thursday.

The use of machine guns had been reported in Idlib and some suburbs of Damascus in the days following the ceasefire, it said in a statement, and there was evidence of new arrests in Hama and Aleppo.

"Despite these transgressions, the Commission remains hopeful that the ceasefire will hold and that the cessation of violence will contribute to an atmosphere that is conducive to peace and a comprehensive national dialogue among the Syrian Government, opposition groups and other components of Syrian society," it said.

The panel was set up last year by the United Nations Human Rights Council and previously reported on evidence it received of murder, rape and torture carried out by security forces in the 13-month crackdown on dissent.

Investigators said they had also received reports before and after the ceasefire of human rights abuses committed by anti-government groups.

There were accounts of armed groups killing soldiers captured during fighting before the ceasefire, the Commission said.