While the sectarian divide is sharpest between the Sunnis and Allawite communities – from which most of the senior government and military leaders hail – other minority groups have been increasingly drawn into the conflict, the report said.

“As battles between government and anti-government armed groups approach the end of their second year, the conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature,” it said, adding that Christians, Armenians, Druze and others have largely aligned themselves with President Bashar Assad’s regime.

“The commission has received credible reports of anti-government groups attacking Allawites and other minority communities,” the report said.