Exclusive-Syrian regime organised feared ghost militias, war crimes researchers say

FILE PHOTO: This still image taken from amateur video shows protesters defacing a giant poster of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Deraa, Syria March 25, 2011. Footage taken March 25, 2011. There was no way to independently verify the contents of the videos. REUTERS/Amateur Video via Reuters TV/File Photo

THE HAGUE/BEIRUT (Reuters) - In the early years of Syria's brutal conflict, top government officials established and directed paramilitary groups known as shabbiha to help the state crack down on opponents, war crimes investigators have documented.

In a report shared with Reuters, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) published seven documents its investigators said showed that the highest levels of Syria's government "planned, organised, instigated and deployed" the shabbiha from the start of the war in 2011.