LONDON — Sunni rebels were said to have concealed atrocities against Alawite civilians.

European sources, including those in Syria, said Sunni rebels were increasingly targeting Alawite and Shi’ite civilians in eastern and central Syria. They said the rebels then claimed that Sunnis had been massacred by forces of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“They have done this several times, and this has sickened Western governments,” a European Union diplomat said.

The sources said Sunni rebels were believed to have been responsible for some of the 108 people killed in Houla in May. The killings, attributed by the United States to the Assad-sponsored Shabiha militia, were said to have been conducted by Sunni rebels.

“According to eyewitness accounts, those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shi’ite minorities,” the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Allgemeine, regarded as a leading German newspaper, said many of those targeted in Houla were Sunnis who had converted to other religions, particularly Shi’ite Islam. More than 90 percent of the town was said to consist of Sunnis.

The sources said Sunni rebels were consistently misleading the Western media. In one case, they said, a recent killing of Sunni tribal members by Al Qaida-aligned fighters in central Syria was successfully attributed to the Assad regime. At least 6,000 foreign fighters were estimated to have joined the Sunni revolt and believed responsible for most of the killing of Alawites, Christians and Shi’ite civilians in Syria.

In April, a French Catholic cleric reported Sunni rebel atrocities. Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix, a member of the St. James Monastery in Homs, reported on the Sunni roundup of Alawites and Christians in the Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs. The rebels then blew up the building trapped with Christian and Alawites.

“Even though this act has been attributed to regular army forces, the evidence and testimony are irrefutable,” the French nun wrote. “It was an operation undertaken by armed groups affiliated with the opposition.”

The sources said the rebels were consistently attacking suspected regime collaborators and their families. They said those killed in Houla included the family of a Sunni member of parliament.

The assertions by Ms. de la Croix and others could not be confirmed. The French nun, who at one point expressed the hope that she could counter anti-Assad reports in the West, has been described in the Swiss media as a sympathizer of the Damascus regime.

“It’s hard not to conclude that Mother Agnes-Mariam is little more than another Assad propagandist using her religious credentials to push a particular narrative,” an article in the National Review by Aymenn Jawad Al Tamimi and Phillip Smyth said on June 12.

The Assad regime has repeatedly blamed so-called terrorists for attacks on Syrian soldiers and security officers. But the regime has not cited Sunni attacks on Alawites or civilian supporters of Assad. “The fact is there are no good guys in this conflict,” the diplomat said. “Both sides are targeting civilians.” (Copyright © 2012 East West Services, Inc. 06/13/12)