A/HRC/23/58 by the 1st Division at a checkpoint at the entrance to Kesweh (Damascus) to coerce him into providing information about his brother. 66. Government forces routinely arrest and detain persons as punishment for exercising their basic rights. In mid-January, following a peaceful demonstration in Al-Suwayda, security forces conducted mass arrests. Some of those arrested were children as young as 12 years. 67. In Um Walad (Dara’a), Government military and security forces arrested men at checkpoints on the sole criteria of being of military age. In January, while raiding predominantly Sunni neighbourhoods in Latakia city, government forces detained men, women and children. After holding them for a prolonged period, they were released without charge and without being informed of the reason for their detention. 68. Government forces made widespread arbitrary arrests of persons in areas where they have re-asserted control. In mid-January, government forces arrested students, including children, owing to their perceived loyalty to the armed opposition following a ground assault on Egeirbat (eastern Hama). Government forces carried out a similar wave of arrests in Nawa (Dara’a) in mid-March. In April, during a ground assault on Sunni villages around Al Qusayr (Homs), Hizbullah fighters arrested more than 50 civilians during house searches. 69. The armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic have broad, unchecked powers to detain civilians they suspect of harbouring opposition loyalties. The arrest or detention of persons as punishment for exercising fundamental human rights is per se arbitrary. Arrests conducted on discriminatory grounds, such as the religious or geographic origin of persons, also violate international human rights law. The arrest and detention of all men of fighting age is an indication of arbitrariness, and the mass arrest of civilians, including women, children and the elderly, in areas perceived as supporting the opposition amounts to collective punishment and is illegal under international humanitarian law. D. Hostage-taking 70. There has been a dramatic rise in hostage-taking. Often sectarian in nature, it sparks reprisals and fuels inter-communal tensions. Foreigners, including journalists, businessmen and peacekeepers, have also been seized. Families cannot afford the ransom, and the consequences of non-payment have been lethal. 1. Government forces and affiliated militia 71. The commission investigated but did not confirm allegations that the army and popular committees took hostages in Kesweh (Damascus) and Muzayrib (Dara’a), in April. In Muzayrib, in April, civilians held by the army on a bus were threatened with death unless the FSA ceased attacks. 2. Anti-government armed groups 72. Members of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were seized on 6 March by the Al-Yarmouk Martyrs Battalion near the Golan Heights. The same group seized four UNDOF peacekeepers on 7 May. A third incident occurred days later, when 18 antigovernment fighters held three UNTSO peacekeepers in the area of separation between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic. In all three cases, the kidnappers were seeking to leverage the hostages to halt a Government attack. All were released unharmed. 13