Surveillance footage shows execution of volunteer inside Sweida hospital during July clashes

The National

16 hours ago

In newly emerged surveillance footage from the Sweida National Hospital, about 30 staff members and volunteers kneel before a group of armed men in military uniforms belonging to Syria's Internal Security Forces.
Suddenly, a man in scrubs, identified as Mohammad Bahsas, is pulled from the group. A soldier hits him on the head, then kicks him, while another soldier wrangles him to the ground. A third soldier shoots Mr Bahsas in the head at point-blank range, execution-style. Two soldiers then drag the lifeless body aside, leaving a thick streak of blood across the lobby.
The footage, recorded on July 16 – at the height of the clashes – was later obtained and shared by news website Sweida 24.
The outlet called it 'conclusive evidence' that members of the Ministry of Defence and Internal Security detained medical staff and 'carried out a field execution ' inside the hospital.
'The video, which was taken from surveillance cameras, provides further evidence of the involvement of transitional government forces in targeting medical staff and transforming Sweida National Hospital into a killing ground, field executions, and the liquidation of the wounded.'
Fighting broke out at Sweida National Hospital on the evening of July 15, after the collapse of the first short-lived ceasefire.
Mr Bahsas, a civil engineer by trade, became a first aid volunteer at the hospital during last month's fierce sectarian violence between government troops and tribal militias on one side, and Druze gunmen on the other.
'They hit him on his head with the rifle,' Dr Omar Obeid, the president of the Sweida Medical Syndicate, told Al Arabiya, 'and struck him with two bullets, killing him immediately'.
'He was wearing blue scrubs to help his people. The young man had come to help.'
Hospital staff said they were treating injured civilians and fighters from both sides when the assault began.
The mid-July clashes in the Druze-majority province of Sweida left at least 1,013 people dead, according to Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Since hostilities between armed tribesmen and Druze militias broke out on June 12, Sweida has been under a government siege. The province relies on intermittent aid and suffers from limited electricity and dwindling supplies.
Several Druze residents of the besieged province who spoke to The National say government troops, who were posted in an attempt to quell sectarian fighting between armed tribesmen and Druze militiamen, joined Bedouin troops in conducting summary executions of civilians and fighters alike.
The violence in Sweida has further alienated Syria's Druze population from the central government, which continues to seek full control over the province. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that about 1,500 people have been killed on both sides, including more than 160 civilians, and the UN estimates that more than 190,000 people were displaced by last month's fighting.
The violence has called into question President Ahmad Al Shara's ability to unite the country, with many Druze in Sweida expressing outrage at the new authorities.
'We've been semi-autonomous since 2018 when Bashar Al Assad 's regime was in power,' said Kinaan Al Chacha, a volunteer aid worker in the province. 'And we'll stay that way after what happened last month, because now we know this government will never protect us.'