DEATH TOLL RISES IN SYRIA AS UN ENVOY WARNS OF A GLOBAL THREAT TO NEIGHBOURS

The death toll for the 18 months of political violence in Syria has topped 20,000, according to a report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Over the weekend, the U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the first time.

The U.N. envoy confirmed that he feels the deteriorating Syrian situation is a global threat, most immediately to Syria's neighbours, who have absorbed 250,000 refugees.

Human Rights Watch, a US-based group, has accused the opposition of subjecting detainees to torture and committing extrajudicial or summary executions in several areas.

In a report released yesterday, the group said that such incidents occurred in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, as well as the coastal region of Latakia. T

The UN panel said it has compiled a list of those it suspects of carrying out war crimes but is not releasing their names.

HRW said that such acts in the context of an armed conflict were war crimes and could constitute crimes against humanity if they occurred in a widespread and systematic manner.

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