A/HRC/23/58 firmly under anti-government armed group control, such as Ar Raqqah city and Dayr az Zawr villages, continue to be subjected to shelling and bombardment. There were multiple accounts of surface-to-surface missiles causing massive destruction in the north, such as in the Ard Al-Hamra neighbourhood on 23 February and Hreitan (Aleppo) on 29 March. Thermobaric bombs were used in Al Qusayr on 20 March. Cluster munitions were used in numerous locations, including Qarah, in rural Damascus, between 3 and 6 April. 106. Towns in northern Aleppo and Idlib governorates have been largely emptied of civilians, turning them into de facto military zones. It is clear that the Government could take greater precautions to protect civilians that remain. In May, shortly before the attack on Al Qusayr, government forces dropped leaflets advising civilians to leave the area. In the context of Government attacks, such precautions remain an anomaly. 107. Multiple accounts were received – from former residents of towns across Dara’a, Sha’ar and Ashrafiyah neighbourhoods (Aleppo) and Yarmouk (Damascus) – of snipers targeting persons, without distinction. Casualties included women and children. 108. Government forces consistently transgressed the fundamental principle of the laws of war that they must, at all times, distinguish between civilian and military objectives. 2. Anti-government armed groups 109. Armed groups continue to operate within civilian areas. This endangers the civilian population and violates international legal obligations to avoid positioning military objectives within or near densely populated areas. Some armed groups take precautions to safeguard the civilian population. On 6 February, in Al-Tabqah (Ar Raqqah), fighters warned residents to evacuate the area in advance of an attack. Prior to the attacks on Al Qusayr in May, armed groups assisted in the evacuation of civilians. 110. There were isolated instances of the shelling of towns and villages by armed groups, usually on the pretext that the attacks were directed against government forces. On 24 April and on 4 and 6 May, Liwa Al-Tawhid, Ghuraba Al-Sham and Jabhat Al-Nusra fired scores of mortars and home-made rockets into Nubul and Zahra (Aleppo). There were multiple civilian casualties, including a 12-year-old boy. In February, armed groups in Aleppo city fired mortars into Government-controlled areas. In March, groups fired mortars into Sayda Zaynab and the surrounding neighbourhoods of Damascus. They shelled Fou’a (Idlib) throughout 2013. All areas attacked had a majority Shia population. There were reports of snipers from armed groups firing into Nubul and Sayda Zaynab throughout early 2013, causing civilian casualties. 111. Anti-government armed groups used mortars, rockets and snipers in a manner that failed to distinguish civilian from military objectives, committing unlawful attacks. 3. Undetermined perpetrators 112. The use of improvised explosive devices (usually car bombs) continued. All but one attack took place in Damascus. The first attack, on 15 January, was the bombing of Aleppo University, which killed more than 80 people. Bombs exploded in Damascus on 21 February near the Ba’ath party headquarters and in the Barzeh neighbourhood; on 21 March, at the Al-Iman mosque; on 8 April, near the Central Bank; on 29 April, near the former Ministry of the Interior; and on 30 April, in central Damascus. No party claimed responsibility. 113. With the exception of the bombing in Barzeh neighbourhood, where the majority of casualties were soldiers, the bombings demonstrated no clear military objective. The attacks spread terror among the civilian population. The large number of civilian deaths and injuries evidenced a disregard for human life. 18