Clans and Villages Reported to Flee Syria.

A United Nations commission on rights abuses in the Syria conflict offered grim new details on Friday of the government's repression, including the uprooting of extended clans and villages forced to flee into neighboring countries by security forces bent on crushing armed resistance. The three-member commission, which released its first incriminating report on rights abuses in Syria last November and an update two weeks ago, told a news conference at the United Nations that it now had a fuller picture of what had been happening inside Syria based on refugee flows from the year-old uprising. ''There are people coming out in greater numbers,'' said Karen Koning AbuZayd, a panel member. While refugees in the early stages of the conflict often crossed borders by themselves or with a few others, she said, ''People are now coming out in whole groups.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]