Syrian forces executing and burning residents of Idlib, Amnesty says

Report gathers harrowing testimony of victims and families caught in purge of northern city by regime troops and loyalists

Syrian forces are executing scores of suspected opposition sympathisers in the northern city of Idlib, often burning their bodies in piles or torching them in their homes then sending family members to find them, witnesses say.

Idlib residents who spoke to an Amnesty International official last month painted a dire portrait of a city at the mercy of regime troops and irregular loyalists who routinely sweep homes seeking dissenters to kill.

The Amnesty report, prepared by senior crisis adviser Donatella Rovera, gathered harrowing testimonies of victims and their families, caught up in a purge of Idlib and surrounding villages that has steadily intensified over the past six months.

The report says hundreds of homes in some villages have been burned down and their populations terrorised by forces who kill with impunity.