REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GENEVA -- A UN panel investigating war crimes in Syria said the Islamic State group had denied food and medicine to hundreds of thousands of people and hidden its fighters among civilians since a US-led coalition began launching airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

The panel said Syrians and Iraqis were subjected to an Islamic State "rule of terror" from its calculated use of public brutality and indoctrination to ensure the submission of communities under its control. That includes repeated violations against children and women.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, a four-member panel of independent experts, conducted more than 300 interviews and collected video and photographic evidence. It reported Friday that the group has "become synonymous with extreme violence directed against civilians and captured fighters."