DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry on Monday said it would hold accountable those responsible for the apparent killing of an unarmed man at a hospital during violence last month in Druze-majority Sweida province, after a purported video of the incident emerged.
“We condemn and denounce this act in the strongest terms and affirm that the perpetrators will be held accountable and brought to justice... whatever their affiliation,” the ministry said in a statement.
A week of bloodshed began on July 13 with clashes between local Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, but the violence rapidly escalated as it drew in outside forces, eventually killing some 1,600 people, many of them Druze civilians, according to an updated toll by a war monitor.
Local media outlet Suwayda 24 published the video on Sunday, saying it was from hospital surveillance footage.
Forces in military garb are seen shooting dead a man whom Suwayda 24 identified as an engineer volunteering with the hospital team after a brief scuffle, as a group of people dressed as health care workers are crouched on the floor.
Another man seen in the video told AFP that the incident took place on July 16.
Rights activists called for accountability and an independent inquiry after the footage emerged, following other videos that circulated last month that also appeared to show government forces killing civilians.
The interior ministry said it appointed an official “to directly oversee the progress of the investigation in order to ensure the culprits are found and arrested as soon as possible.”
Late last month, authorities announced the formation of a committee to investigate the Sweida violence, which should present its findings within three months.
Activists have instead called for an independent investigation to probe the violence.
Mohammad Al-Abdallah, executive director of the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, said on Sunday that United Nations investigators “must enter Sweida immediately” and labelled the medic’s killing a war crime.
Despite a ceasefire, the situation remains tense in Sweida and access to the province remains difficult.
Local residents accuse the government of imposing a blockade, something officials have denied, pointing to the entry of humanitarian convoys.
Syria vows accountability after video of Sweida hospital killing
https://arab.news/4ut25
Syria vows accountability after video of Sweida hospital killing
- The interior ministry said it appointed an official to directly oversee the progress of the investigation
Putin hosts Syria’s interim leader for talks, with Russian military bases on the agenda
- Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa first visited Russia in October
MOSCOW: Syria’s interim leader arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for his second visit in less than four months for talks expected to focus on the future of Russian military bases in the country.
Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa first visited Russia in October. He led a swift rebel offensive in December 2024 that ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad, who enjoyed Moscow’s support for years as his government fought a devastating civil war.
Russia, which in recent years has been focused on the fighting in Ukraine and kept only a small military contingent in Syria, didn’t try to counter the rebel offensive. It gave asylum to Assad and his family after he fled the country.
Despite having been on opposite during the civil war, the interim government in Damascus has signaled readiness to develop ties with Moscow in apparent hopes it could help rebuild the war-shattered country and offer a way to diversify its foreign policy.
For the Kremlin, it’s essential to keep its naval and air bases on Syria’s coast, the only such outposts outside the former Soviet Union that are crucial for maintaining Russia’s military presence in the Mediterranean. Russian authorities have voiced hope for negotiating a deal to maintain the Hmeimim air base and the naval outpost in Tartus.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ahead of the meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Al-Sharaa that “all issues related to our military’s presence in Syria will be discussed in the talks.”
In recent days, Russian forces have begun pulling out of positions in northeastern Syria in an area still controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after the group lost most of its territory in an offensive by government forces.
