A/HRC/23/58 2. (a) Abductions, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture Government forces and affiliated militia 99. Government forces and militia detained children at checkpoints and during house raids. Several arrests in Dara’a appeared to target children of suspected FSA members. Others held children as hostage in exchange for detainees held by the FSA. During the attack of 10 April on Sanamayn, children were forced to watch the torture or killing of parents. In April, checkpoint personnel in Rastan (Homs) threatened to shoot two girls aged 9 and 7 who had started crying during their father’s interrogation. (b) Anti-government armed groups 100. In December 2012, a woman and her 6-year-old daughter were kidnapped from AlFou’a (Idlib) and held in an underground detention facility in Saraqib. They were released in January on payment of ransom to Jabhat Al-Nusra. 3. Recruitment and use of children Anti-government armed groups 101. Some armed groups recruit and use children for active participation in hostilities. A 14-year-old boy from Homs underwent training in the use of weapons with the Abu Yusef Battalion, which then used him to keep track of soldiers’ movements in Al-Waar. Other groups reject underage volunteers. Commanders in Dayr az Zawr refused to accept a 15year-old boy, calling his parents to come collect him. 102. Casualty statistics indicate that 86 children were killed in hostilities as combatants. Of those, nearly half died in 2013. These figures suggest that the use of children in combat is increasing. IV. Violations concerning the conduct of hostilities A. Unlawful attacks 103. Civilians bear the brunt of violent and often indiscriminate attacks. Government forces continued their campaign of shelling and aerial bombardment. Instances of armed groups shelling Shia enclaves in Aleppo, Idlib and Damascus governorates were recorded. There were multiple bombings, mainly in Damascus, for which no party claimed responsibility. 1. Government forces and affiliated militia 104. Government forces conduct their military operations in flagrant disregard of the distinction between civilians and persons directly participating in hostilities. Extensive aerial and artillery capabilities continue to be deployed. Increasingly, even less precise weaponry, such as surface-to-surface missiles, thermobaric bombs and cluster munitions, are being used. There is a strong element of retribution in the Government’s approach, with civilians paying a price for “allowing” armed groups to operate in their towns. 105. Attacks by artillery shelling, barrel bombs and aerial bombardment were particularly fierce in heavily contested areas of strategic importance, such as Aleppo and Homs cities. Yarmouk (Damascus) has been heavily shelled, leading to an exodus of Palestinian refugees into Lebanon. Such attacks did not discriminate between military targets and civilian objects, and were conducted across the country in numerous locations. Areas more 17