Syria vows accountability after video of Sweida hospital killing
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.
Syrian authorities have said their forces intervened to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze, including summary executions.
Local media outlet Suwayda 24 and the Observatory 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 healthcare workers are crouched on the floor.
Another man seen in the video told AFP that the incident took place on July 16.
The Observatory called it a 'shocking field execution' carried out by 'members of the defence and interior ministries'.
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 Centre, said on Sunday that UN 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.
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