LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The U.N. panel says that it has submitted a list of Syrian military and political officials suspected of crimes against humanity.

It is believed the list could go as high as Syrian President Bashar al Assad whose security crackdown has left an estimated 8,000 people dead since protests erupted against his government in March of last year.

Commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council, the report lists numerous atrocities, including the shooting and killing of civilians, shelling residential areas and torturing wounded protesters in hospital.

The report also accuses the opposition of carrying out murder, torture and abductions, but says those were "not comparable in scale and organization to those carried out by the state."

The investigators have deposited with the High Commissioner [for Human Rights] a comprehensive database containing all evidence collected," the panel said.

"Consistent with its mandate, the commission endeavored, where possible, to identify those responsible with a view to ensuring that perpetrators of violations, including those that may constitute crimes against humanity, are held accountable."

The commission recommends the initiation of an inclusive political dialogue, bringing together the government and opposition groups. Both sides should "negotiate an end to the violence, to ensure respect for human rights and to address the legitimate demands of the Syrian people," it said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reported to have discussed the "unified humanitarian proposal" with counterparts on the sidelines of an international conference on Somalia in London.

A U.S. administration official, speaking on conditions of anonymity said that the proposal would be discussed in the Friends of Syria meeting to be held in the Tunisian capital this week.

The Friends of Syria group brings together the U.S., its European allies and Arab states working to end the turmoil in the country.

"I think one of the things you are going to see coming out of the meeting tomorrow are concrete proposals" on the supply of aid "within days,"  the U.S. official said.

"The challenge is on the Syrian regime to respond to this."

The Tunis meeting will be the group's first since it was created in response to a joint veto by China and Russia of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Assad's crackdown.

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