A/HRC/28/69 37. ISIS inflicts severe penalties against those who transgress or refuse to accept their self-proclaimed rule. This includes hundreds of public executions, mainly of males, followed by the display of bodies in an effort to terrorize and force the submission of civilian communities living under their control. ISIS has also publicly amputated limbs as punishment for theft and lashed residents for smoking and trading during prayer times. 38. ISIS has carried out executions of captured soldiers and fighters from other armed groups. It has also killed civilians during attacks, such as on the Al-Shaar gas fields (Homs) in July and on Al-Sheitat villages in Dayr az Zawr in August 2014. 39. Where ISIS has occupied areas with diverse ethnic and religious communities, minorities have been forced to either assimilate or flee. It forcibly displaced Kurds from towns in Ar Raqqah as early as July 2013. As recently as November 2014, it evicted Kurds living in Al Bab (Aleppo). It has also destroyed Christian churches and Shia shrines in its areas of control. (iii) People’s Protection Units 40. In mid-2012, as armed groups surged in the west and south of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Government withdrew from Kurdish majority areas in an effort to deploy its forces where they were most needed. In their place, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) took control. 41. In January 2014, the YPG established an administration in the Kurdish regions of the northern part of the Syrian Arab Republic. They have engaged in hostilities with government forces, anti-government armed groups and ISIS to defend areas under its control. Supported by international coalition airstrikes, the YPG recently regained control over Ayn al-Arab (Kobane). 42. The YPG has recruited children – both boys and girls – for use in hostilities. In a letter dated 30 September 2013 addresed to the Commission, the YPG stated that its policy was not to use children under the age of 18. Underage fighters, however, were involved in YPG military operations against ISIS in Ayn al-Arab (Kobane) in September and October 2014. (b) Unknown perpetrators 43. Throughout the conflict, there have been attacks for which no party has claimed responsibility and which had no clear strategic or military objective beyond the purpose of spreading terror among the civilian population. Among these are the chemical weapons attacks on Al-Ghouta (Rif Damascus) on 21 August 2013 and Khan Al-Assal (Aleppo) on 19 March 2013. 44. In Al-Ghouta, significant quantities of sarin were used in a well-planned attack targeting civilian-inhabited areas, causing mass casualties. The evidence available concerning the nature, quality and quantity of the agents used indicated that the perpetrators likely had access to the chemical weapons stockpile of the Syrian military, as well as the expertise and equipment necessary to safely manipulate large amounts of chemical agents. The chemical agents used in Khan Al-Assal bore the same unique hallmarks as those used in Al-Ghouta. Other allegations of chemical weapons on a significantly smaller scale were also recorded. The Commission’s evidentiary threshold was not met with regard to the perpetrator for these incidents. 45. There have been multiple cases where improvised explosive devices were set off in both government- and armed group-controlled areas and for which it was not possible to identify the party responsible. 7