Syria: Local Residents Used as Human Shields

(Antakya, Turkey, March 25, 2012) – Syrian government forces have endangered civilians by using them as human shields during recent arrest operations, troop movements, and attacks on towns and villages in northern Syria, Human Rights Watch said today.Witnesses from the towns of al-Janoudiyeh, Kafr Nabl, Kafr Rouma and Ayn Larouz in the Idlib Governorate in northern Syria told Human Rights Watch that they saw the army and pro-government armed men referred to locally as shabeeha force people to march in front of the advancing army during the recent offensive to retake control of areas that had fallen into the hands of the opposition.