A UN human rights investigation team has concluded that Syrian government forces and pro-government militias perpetrated war crimes in their bloody crackdowns on antigovernment rebels.

The UN investigation team said government forces and their civilian aides committed war crimes such as murder and torture, adding antigovernment rebels were even detained and arrested without proper warrants.

The investigation team also said that Syrian government forces and pro-government militias violated the International Human Rights Law by raping and looting antigovernment rebels.

UN investigators further concluded that government forces and pro-government militias are responsible for the killing of more than 100 civilians, including children, in Houla in May.

The UN investigation team admitted that antigovernment rebels are responsible for committing war crimes as well. But it added that in terms of scale and frequency, antigovernment protesters’ war crimes are not comparable to the atrocities carried about by government forces.