Middle East: Syria: Reports on executions and ill -treatment

With the latest escalation of violence in southern Syria, there are also new allegations of brutal abuse and killings. In the course of the fights over a week, around 200 people were “executed on the spot”, the Syrian observation center for human rights said. Activists reported how residents of the province of Suwaida were beheaded and their houses had been set on fire. Photos and videos of burned and mutilated corpses go around, from humiliation for the audience, which are then shared like trophies on social networks.

After the day-long bloody unrest between Drusian militias and Sunni-Muslim Bedouin tribes, the situation in the city of Suwaida was under control on Sunday. The Syrian Ministry of the Interior announced that the place mostly lived in by Drusen was cleared by tribal fighters and the clashes were ended. According to the observation site, however, there were still battles in some villages. According to her, the number of fatalities rose to over 1,000. The Drusen are a religious minority that emerged from Shiite Islam.

Death and always new atrocities in Syria

Syria was always the scene of killings and violence in their most brutal forms: during the decades of rule of the Assad family, which had massive killing and torturing, but also by extremist groups such as the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) or by local militias. Many of the new allegations are directed against the most Sunni troops of the new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the allies with it. There are also serious allegations against the Drusian minority, whose stronghold Suwaida has been fighting for days.

“These atrocities do not differ from those against the Alawites,” said the head of the observation center, Rami Abdul Rahman, the dpa. He referred to the violence on the Syrian coast in March, where, especially on Alawites – a religious minority with roots in Shiite Islam – real massacres were arranged. “The only difference is that the druses are armed differently than the Alawites,” said Abdul Rahman. With his network of informants in Syria, he counted around 1,600 civilians killed on the coast in March.

“Why this barbaric kill?”

“How did we get lost in such raw violence and humiliation?” Writes the journalist Maher Akraa, who comes from Syria, who lives in Switzerland and is researching on the Internet. “Why this barbaric killing, mutilating and insulting our humanity?” The massacres against Drusian and Bedouin families are “truly terrifying”.

A video allegedly from Suwaida shows how celebrating fighters drive around a few corpses that they have placed on the bonnet of their off -road vehicles. In another video, three men are forced to jump from the balcony of a house and are shot. The origin of the videos cannot be checked independently. However, Syrian activists for human rights spread them and explain that the videos are credible.

The UN human rights office in Geneva speaks of credible reports on human rights violations. “This includes executions in the quick process and arbitrary killings, kidnapping, destruction of private property and looting of houses,” said the office.

Results of violence on alawites under closure

After the massacres on the Alawites, the Al-Sharaas government had promised a reappraisal in the spring and founded a committee for this. Little has happened since then. Al-Sharaa has received a final report, but the results have so far been under lock and key. Critics accuse his government that perpetrators would get away without punishment and that the judiciary is largely hidden.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Volker Türk, has also called for “independent, quick and transparent investigations for all violations” for violence in Suwaida. This also has to prevent the repetition of such violence: “Revenge and retaliation are not an answer.”