Beirut– A United Nations investigation said Friday there is “no indication” that Syria has investigated violations committed by its forces during sectarian clashes last summer that killed at least 1,700 people, the majority of them from the Druze religious minority.
In a scathing report, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic urged the Syrian government to investigate the leadership of its security forces that allowed or organized sectarian attacks against the Druze community.
Reports estimated that some 200,000 people were displaced by the violence in Sweida, a stronghold of Syria’s Druze community. The dead included about 200 women and children.
In mid-July, armed groups became affiliated Druze Spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri Clashes with local Bedouins The clans encouraged the intervention of government forces, who effectively sided with the Bedouins. Targeted sectarian attacks, first against the religious minority group and later against the Bedouin community, and a series of kidnappings further deteriorated relations.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Shar’a vowed to investigate the incidents and hold perpetrators from all sides, including government forces, accountable.
UN investigators spent several weeks in Syria and interviewed more than 400 survivors, officials and alleged perpetrators. He visited affected areas, including those under government control and de facto rule by Israel-backed peoples Umbrella group of local armed Druze groups.
Referring to the violence, the report said Damascus needed to address whether “certain practices are tolerated” within its security agencies. It called for identifying those members of the leadership who allowed this to happen and removing them.
The report said armed tribal fighters from other parts of the country gathered in Sweda to support government forces and elements of the authorities appeared “unwilling or unable” to confront them.
Day-long summer clashes in Sweden were a shock Al ShaaraaWhich is attempting to assert the full authority of its government in the war-torn country and appeal to Syria’s minorities.
Although some prisoner exchange However, no viable solution has been reached. Human rights group criticizes Damascus for lack of Viable accountability measures For attacks on civilians.
The report described “widespread looting and systematic arson” as well as killings and abductions of civilians during the government-led advance. Tribal fighters targeted almost every house in 35 mixed or Druze-majority villages in the province.
“In particular, the Druze population has been the victim of severe sectarian violence, leading to large-scale displacement, which is expected to continue for a long time,” the report said.
Reports said some bodies were found months after the ceasefire, some on roads or in fields, and in other cases burnt or mutilated.
According to the report, “Almost all Druze religious sites in those villages were looted, burned, and vandalized.” It said three houses of worship were burned, and another was looted and vandalized.
There were large-scale retaliatory attacks against Bedouin civilians in the western rural areas of Sweida province. The report said most documented cases occurred amid hostilities, but there were also a number of cases where attacks “appeared to be deliberately directed at civilian areas.”
Reports noted Bedouin civilians, including children and the elderly, being shot dead while fleeing on foot, and also mentioned a case where the bodies of two people remained hanging at the gate of a village for several days. Four mosques were also targeted.
The scale of the violence overwhelmed hospitals in both Sweda and neighboring Daraa province, as hundreds of bodies were brought in during the escalating violence, with no room in morgues. Many of the bodies were severely burned while others were left outside and “possibly mauled by wild animals before being found.”
“Hospital staff and first responders were forced to allow bodies to be buried before they could be identified; while preserving records and images of where and when the body was found, and of remaining clothing or jewelry, body markings or tattoos where available aided later identification,” the report said.
