A/HRC/28/69 15. In April 2014, the Government dropped barrel bombs containing chemical agents, likely chlorine, on locations in Idlib and Hama governorates. The first attributed finding of use of chemical weapons by a warring party was noted, but did not spur greater action to end the conflict. 16. Throughout the duration of the violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, government forces have relied on paramilitary groups and militias; initially the shabbiha, and now the National Defence Force. It has benefited from the intervention of foreign fighters, including Hizbullah and Iraqi Shia militias. 2. Non-State armed groups (a) Anti-government armed groups 17. After the armed confrontations in Jisr Ash-Shugur (Idlib) in June 2011, organized armed groups emerged in Homs, Idlib and Rif Damascus, made up of defectors and local fighters. 18. Some defectors organized themselves into the Free Syrian Army (FSA). While increasingly organized armed groups identified themselves as FSA, it remained unclear whether the FSA leadership, based in Turkey, had effective command and control over ground forces. After 2012, hundreds of groups of varying sizes emerged. The multiplicity of actors exacerbated the violence and further endangered civilian life. 19. While the Government focused on key urban centres and lines of communication, the armed opposition made gains in the countryside of restive governorates. Their presence in civilian areas and their initial attacks on isolated checkpoints and army convoys triggered ever more violent assaults by the Government. 20. Armed groups, then under the banner of the FSA, tortured and executed suspected government agents, members of the shabbiha, and collaborators. During the Government’s assault on Homs city in February 2012, armed groups killed captured soldiers. 21. As the armed violence mutated into a civil war in February 2012, armed groups continued to attack government-held neighbourhoods and areas. The Damascus neighbourhoods of Jaramana and Bab Tuma have been the object of indiscriminate shelling by anti-government armed groups for more than two years. These unlawful attacks continue to date. 22. Armed groups continued to take hostages to force prisoner exchanges or for ransom. Some groups have held hostages for long periods of time, as in the ongoing case of women and children abducted from eastern Latakia in August 2013. Almost all of those held hostage have been civilians belonging to communities or living in areas supportive of the Government. 23. Anti-government armed groups have also besieged towns and villages. The sieges have generally been shorter lived and employed on far fewer localities than those of the Government. Since armed groups expanded their control over the northern countryside of Aleppo in July 2012, they have imposed a siege on two Shia enclaves, Nubul and Zahra. 24. The first foreign fighters, mostly Libyans, arrived in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2011. The presence of more extreme elements was seen in the numerous suicide bombings that initially targeted State security services in 2011 and 2012. 25. The more extreme anti-government armed groups, notably Jabhat Al-Nusra, have flourished as the conflict continues. This is largely owing to their operational efficiency and stable financial capacity, which have attracted fighters from other groups. 5