Surveillance footage shows execution of volunteer by security forces inside Sweida hospital

The National

3 days ago

In newly emerged surveillance footage from the Sweida National Hospital, about 30 staff members and volunteers kneel before a group of armed men.
Suddenly, a man in scrubs, identified as Mohammad Bahsas, is pulled from the group. A soldier in military uniform, belonging to Syria's Internal Security Forces, hits him on the head, then kicks him, while another soldier wrangles him to the ground.
A third soldier picks a rifle off the ground and shoots Mr Bahsas in the head at point-blank range, execution-style. Another shoots him again, this time with a pistol. Two soldiers then drag the lifeless body aside, leaving a thick streak of blood across the lobby.
The footage was recorded on July 16, when deadly sectarian clashes were raging in the Sweida province between armed tribesmen and government forces on one side, and Druze gunmen on the other. The hospital was not spared from the violence.
The footage of Mr Bahsas' killing was later disseminated by hospital staff and shared by news outlets in Sweida, among them Suweida 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.'
Syria's Ministry of Interior has ordered an investigation "to expedite efforts aimed at identifying and apprehending the perpetrators at the earliest opportunity", it said.
"We condemn and denounce this act in the strongest terms, and we affirm that the perpetrators will be held accountable and brought to justice to receive their just punishment, regardless of their affiliations," it added.
It is one of numerous surveillance clips that have emerged after clashes at the Sweida National Hospital. Another video shows tanks approaching the hospital grounds. A third appears to show someone in government military fatigues herding a group of doctors down a hospital corridor as another man smashes the camera with a plank.
Although the violence, and Mr Bahsas's execution, occurred nearly a month ago, CCTV footage showing the events surrounding his death did not emerge until Sunday.
"Honestly, they [hospital staff] distributed the clips in a chaotic way," said Rayan Maarouf, a journalist for media outlet Suweida 24 told The National. "They only began to categorise them two days ago. Before that they were terrified they [government forces] would return. They were afraid to release the footage. But more videos will follow."
Fighting broke out at Sweida National Hospital on the evening of July 16, as the first short-lived ceasefire collapsed. Government forces stormed the hospital with tanks and armoured vehicles, according to Mr Maarouf.
Understanding the timeline of events that led to the violence in the hospital has been an issue for journalists living outside Sweida, who are forbidden by the government from entry into the province. Residents say doctors and injured patients were summarily killed by government forces as they stormed the hospital.
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 the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
Since hostilities between armed tribesmen and Druze militias broke out on July 13, Sweida has been under a government lockdown. The province relies on intermittent aid and suffers from limited electricity and dwindling supplies.
Several Druze residents of the province who spoke to The National say government troops, who were deployed 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 the ability of the new regime to unite the country, with many Druze in Sweida expressing outrage at the 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.'