A/HRC/22/59 distinction between civilians and persons directly participating in hostilities. Insider accounts collected from high-ranking defectors from Government forces indicate that military commanders had given orders to directly target civilians and the civilian population as such. 120. The dynamics of the conflict have become increasingly complex. The war has become coloured by sectarianism, permeated by opportunistic criminality and aggravated by the presence of foreign fighters and extremist groups. The lack of access to the Syrian Arab Republic has significantly hampered investigations in to the conduct of hostilities by anti-Government armed groups. 1. Government forces and affiliated militia 121. Incidents of indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombardment were recorded across Aleppo, Dara’a, Damascus, Idlib, Dayr az Zawr, Hama, Homs, Al-Hasakah and Latakia governorates. 122. In Aleppo, Hama and Dayr az Zawr, bakery queues were targeted, resulting in the death and injury of civilians, including women and children. Attacks were often conducted in the morning when the concentration of civilians was highest or just before iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan. In most cases, bakery queues were attacked the day after flour was delivered to the bakery following a protracted shortage. 123. The aerial bombardment of densely populated urban areas, such as Azaz, has been corroborated by satellite imagery (see annex XI, figures 1–3). Defector accounts indicate that certain cities and towns were deliberately targeted in an indiscriminate manner. Those carrying out attacks on civilian areas exhibited a disregard for the loss of civilian life. In some incidents, such as in the assault on Harak, indiscriminate shelling was followed by ground operations during which Government forces perpetrated mass killing. 124. Several instances were documented in which it is clear that civilians were the object of attack. Government forces fired on civilian gatherings, such as funeral processions. During the attack on Al-Habit, Idlib, on 28 July, army helicopters fired at the streets of the town in order to prevent movement, killing civilians attempting to escape the shelling. On 9 November, the air force shelled the market of Al Quriyah village on women’s market day, killing 21 civilians, including 19 women. 125. Entire neighbourhoods of suburban Damascus were shelled and destroyed by Government forces. A defector from a special forces branch of the infantry that operated in Damascus stated that his commander considered all areas in which the FSA and other antiGovernment armed groups operated to be “areas supportive of terrorists”. In attacking Zabadani, the commander allegedly gave orders to “destroy the town”. 126. As a result of such unrestrained violence, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their homes. Taftanaz, a city subject to intense bombardment, was described by former residents as “a ghost city”. 127. The bombardment of bread lines and bakeries amounts to violence aimed at spreading terror among the civilian population, in violation of customary international humanitarian law. 128. Insiders stated that the air force targeted areas that were perceived to be supportive of the opposition “as a kind of punishment”. If confirmed, individuals who order attacks against civilians would be individually criminally responsible for the war crime of attacking civilians. 129. Indiscriminate and widespread shelling, the regular bombardment of cities, mass killing, indiscriminate firing on civilian targets, firing on civilian gatherings and a GE.13-10627 19