Tehran to host conference on human rights in Syria

Iran is going to host an international conference on the situation of human rights and measures to further empower resistance movements in crisis-stricken Syria.
The conference will be held in the Iranian capital Tehran on March 12, and Iran’s Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani is scheduled to open the meeting, IRNA reported.
High-profile parliamentary delegations from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria and Russia are slated to participate in the one-day event.
UN human rights investigators have for the first time blamed foreign-backed militants operating in Syria for crimes against humanity.
The UN commission further reported that crimes against humanity were committed in the northern province of Raqqa, where ethnic Kurds have been detained and tortured by militants.
The report also confirmed that al-Qaeda-linked groups such as the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Nusra Front, the Ahrar al-Sham and the Shahid Walid al-Sukhni Battalion all operate detention and torture centers in areas under their control within Syria.
On February 23, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that assistance to the strife-stricken Syrian people, fight against terrorism and a negotiated political settlement to the Syrian crisis are at the center of the Islamic Republic’s attention.
Syria has been the scene of deadly violence since March 2011. Over 130,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil.
The Western powers and their regional allies – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – have been supporting the militants operating inside Syria.