1,400 killed in sectarian violence in coastal Syria in March, committee says
It said there was no evidence that Syria's new military leaders ordered attacks on the Alawite community there, to which Mr Assad belonged.
Nearly 300 people suspected of committing crimes including murder, robbery, torture and looting and burning of homes and businesses were identified during the four-month investigation and referred for prosecution, and 37 people have been arrested, officials told journalists.
They did not say how many suspects were members of security forces.
The committee's report came as Syria reels from a new round of sectarian violence in the south, which again has threatened to upend the country's fragile recovery from nearly 14 years of civil war.
The violence on the coast began on March 6 when armed groups loyal to Mr Assad attacked security forces of the new government, killing 238 of them, the committee said.
In response, security forces descended on the coast from other areas of the country, joined by thousands of armed civilians. In total, some 200,000 armed men mobilised, the committee said.
As they entered neighbourhoods and villages, some – including members of military factions – committed 'widespread, serious violations against civilians', committee spokesperson Yasser al-Farhan said.
In some cases, armed men asked civilians whether they belonged to the Alawite sect and 'committed violations based on this', the spokesperson said.
The committee, however, found that the 'sectarian motives were mostly based on revenge, not ideology', he said.
Judge Jumaa al-Anzi, the committee's chairman, said that 'we have no evidence that the (military) leaders gave orders to commit violations'.
He also said investigators had not received reports of girls or women being kidnapped. Some rights groups, including a United Nations commission, have documented cases of Alawite women being kidnapped in the months since the violence.
There have been ongoing, although scattered, reports of Alawites being killed, robbed and extorted since the violence. Tens of thousands of members of the minority sect have fled to neighbouring Lebanon.
There have been echoes of the coastal violence in the new clashes in the southern province of Sweida over the past two weeks.
Those clashes broke out between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans and armed groups of the Druze religious minority, and government security forces who intervened to restore order ended up siding with the Bedouins.
Members of the security forces allegedly killed Druze civilians and looted and burned homes. Druze armed groups launched revenge attacks on Bedouin communities.
Hundreds have been killed, and the UN says more than 128,500 people have been displaced. The violence has largely stopped as a ceasefire takes told.
The committee chairman said the violence in Sweida is 'painful for all Syrians' but 'beyond the jurisdiction' of his committee.
'Time will reveal what happened and who is responsible for it,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Nations will try again on plan to confront world's 'spiraling' plastic pollution mess
Nations gather in Geneva Tuesday to try to complete a landmark treaty aimed at ending the plastic pollution crisis that affects every ecosystem and person on the planet. It's the sixth time negotiators are meeting and they hope the last. A key split is whether the treaty should require cutting plastic production, with powerful oil-producing nations opposed; most plastic is made from fossil fuels. They say redesign, recycling and reuse can solve the problem, while other countries and some major companies say that's not enough. Only a treaty can mobilize the necessary global action, said Angelique Pouponneau, lead ocean negotiator for 39 small island and low-lying coastal developing states. At home in the Seychelles, Pouponneau said, plastic contaminates the fish they eat, piles up on beaches and chokes the ocean to undermine tourism and their way of life. 'It's the world's final opportunity to get this done and to get it done right,' she said. 'It would be a tragedy if we didn't live up to our mandate." United Nations Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen said the issues are complex but the crisis is 'really spiraling' and there's a narrow pathway to a treaty. She said many countries agree on redesigning plastic products to be recycled and improving waste management, for example. 'We need to get a solution to this problem. Everybody wants it. I've yet to meet somebody who is in favor of plastic pollution,' Andersen said. Between 19 million and 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems annually, that could jump 50% by 2040 without urgent action, according to the UN. Sharp disagreements on whether to limit plastic production In March 2022, 175 nations agreed to make the first legally binding treaty on plastics pollution by the end of 2024. It was to address the full life cycle of plastic, including production, design and disposal. Talks last year in South Korea were supposed to be the final round, but they adjourned in December at an impasse over cutting production. Every year, the world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic, and that could grow by about 70% by 2040 without policy changes. About 100 countries want to limit production as well as tackle cleanup and recycling. Many have said it's essential to address toxic chemicals. Panama led an effort in South Korea to address production in the treaty. Negotiator Debbra Cisneros said they'll do so again in Geneva because they strongly believe in addressing pollution at the source, not just through downstream measures like waste management. 'If we shy away from that ambition now, we risk adopting an agreement that is politically convenient, but environmentally speaking, is ineffective,' she said. About 300 businesses that are members of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty — companies such as Walmart, the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and L'Oréal — support reducing production along with increasing recycling and reuse. The coalition includes major food and beverage companies and retailers who want an effective, binding treaty with global rules to spare them the headaches of differing approaches in different countries. Some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries firmly oppose production limits. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of one common type of plastic, has led that group in asserting there should be no problem producing plastic if the world addresses plastic pollution. US position on the treaty The U.S. doesn't support global production caps or bans on certain plastic products or chemical additives to them. The State Department says it supports provisions to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and drive recycling, reuse and other efforts to cut the plastic dumped into the environment. 'If the negotiations are to succeed, the agreement must be aimed at protecting the environment from plastic pollution, and the agreement should recognize the importance plastics play in our economies,' the State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press. That's similar to the views of the plastics industry, which says that a production cap could have unintended consequences, such as raising the cost of plastics, and that chemicals are best regulated elsewhere. China, the United States and Germany lead the global plastics trade by exports and imports, according to the Plastics Industry Association. How high will negotiators aim? For any proposal to make it into the treaty, every nation must agree. Some countries want to change the process so decisions may be made by a vote if necessary. India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait and others have opposed that, arguing consensus is vital to an effective treaty. Negotiators are discussing making some provisions opt-in or opt-out to avoid a stalemate. Bjorn Beeler, international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, said that would mean a treaty without teeth or obligations, with little value. Cisneros said that if carefully crafted, it's an option to find some common ground. Tracey Campbell, an executive vice president at the plastics and chemicals company LyondellBasell and vice chair of the executive committee of the World Plastics Council, said she'll ask negotiators to 'find a way to agree on a few things and get started' and then build from there. She suggested tackling things like product redesign, recycled content mandates and financing waste collection, waste sorting and recycling technologies. In contrast, Greenpeace will be in Geneva calling for at least a 75% reduction in plastic production by 2040. 'We will never recycle our way out of this problem,' said Graham Forbes, who leads the Greenpeace delegation. Thousands of people participating Delegates from most countries, the plastics industry and businesses that use plastics, environmentalists, scientists, Indigenous leaders and communities affected by plastic pollution are in Geneva. About 80 government ministers are attending talks that will last 10 days — the longest session yet, with adjournment scheduled for Aug. 14. Frankie Orona, executive director of the Texas-based Society of Native Nations, has been to every negotiating session. Indigenous land, water and air are being contaminated as fossil fuels are extracted and plastic is manufactured using hazardous chemicals, said Orona. 'We feel we absolutely have to be present to let them know, and see, who are the people that are really being impacted by the plastics crisis,' he said. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘No one should act surprised,' says UN expert who warned of starvation in Gaza last year
The UN expert who first warned that Israel was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza more than 500 days ago, has said that governments and corporations cannot claim to be surprised at the horror now unfolding. 'Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it's always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024,' Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian. 'Israel is starving Gaza. It's genocide. It's a crime against humanity. It's a war crime. I have been repeating it and repeating it and repeating it, I feel like Cassandra,' said Fakhri, referring to the Greek mythological figure whose warnings and predictions were ignored. On 9 October 2023 – two days after the deadly Hamas attack – Israel's then defense minister, Yoav Gallant, declared a 'complete siege' of Gaza and said he would halt the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel. By December 2023, Gazans accounted for 80% of the people in the world experiencing catastrophic hunger, according to UN and international aid agency figures. Now, widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving the sharp rise in hunger-related deaths across Gaza, with more than 20,000 children hospitalized for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative that provides real-time data on hunger and famine for the UN and aid groups. The 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out' across the Gaza Strip, the IPC warned in an alert earlier this week. Fakhri was among the first to warn about the impending famine – and the need for urgent action to stop Israel from starving 2 million people in Gaza. In an interview with the Guardian published on 28 February 2024, Fakhri said: 'We have never seen a civilian population made to go so hungry so quickly and so completely, that is the consensus among starvation experts … Intentionally depriving people of food is clearly a war crime. Israel has announced its intention to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part, simply for being Palestinian … this is now a situation of genocide.' The following month, the international court of justice recognized the risk of genocide in Gaza and drew attention to the 'spread of famine and starvation'. The ICJ said that Israel must immediately take all necessary and effective measures, in cooperation with the UN, to ensure unfettered access to humanitarian aid including food, water, shelter, fuel and medicines. In May, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Gallant became the first ever individuals to be formally accused by an international court of deliberate starvation, which is a war crime. In July 2024, a group of UN experts including Fakhri declared a famine after the first deaths from starvation were reported in Gaza. Fakhri also published a detailed report for the UN into Israel's decades-long control over food production and supplies to Palestinians, a stranglehold which meant 80% of people in Gaza were dependent on aid when Gallant announced the current siege in October 2023. Yet there has been little or no action to stop Israel starving Palestinians, which it has achieved by systematically destroying local food production (greenhouses, orchards, farmland) and blocking aid – in violation of international law. According to Fakhri, this is why famine has now taken hold in Gaza. 'Famine is always political, always predictable and always preventable. But there is no verb to famine. We don't famine people, we starve them – and that inevitably leads to famine if no political action is taken to avoid it. 'But to frame the mass starvation as a consequence of the most recent blockade, is a misunderstanding of how starvation works and what's going on in Gaza. People don't all of a sudden starve, children don't wither away that quickly. This is because they have been deliberately weakened for so long. The state of Israel itself has used food as a weapon since its creation. It can and does loosen and tighten its starvation machine in response to pressure; it has been fine-tuning this for 25 years.' Despite stark images of skeletal Palestinians, the Israeli government and some of its allies have continued to insist that the hunger is the result of logistical problems, not a state policy. Last week Netanyahu said: 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. There is no starvation in Gaza.' Unicef is among multiple aid agencies to confirm that malnutrition and starvation have escalated since early March 2025 – when Israel unilaterally violated a ceasefire agreed after Donald Trump returned to the White House. Israel reinstated a total blockade after allowing some aid trucks in during the ceasefire, though UN agencies and charities on the ground said it was never enough to fully meet the needs of the starved, sick and weakened population. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an opaque logistics group backed by Israel and the Trump administration, began operations in May, with armed security provided by private contractors and the Israeli military. It was authorized to replace 400 UN distribution hubs with just four across Gaza, in response to unproven claims that international aid was being diverted by Hamas. The UN and hundreds of aid groups condemned the move as a weaponization of aid that violated long-established humanitarian norms. On 1 June, Israeli soldiers killed 32 people at GHF sites, and since then more than 1,300 starving Palestinians have been killed trying to access food. Israel has long sought to discredit and weaken the UN and other international mechanisms including the courts, which it sees as hostile to its ongoing de facto annexation of Palestinian territories, accusing them of antisemitism. 'This is using aid not for humanitarian purposes, but to control populations, to move them, to humiliate and weaken people as part of their military tactics. The GHF is so frightening because it might be the new militarized dystopia of aid of the future,' Fakhri said. In a statement, GHF rejected the reports of Palestinian deaths as 'false and exaggerated statistics' and accused the UN of not doing enough. 'If the UN and other groups would collaborate with us, we could end the starvation, desperation and violent incidents almost overnight. We could scale up, add more distribution sites and ramp up direct-to-community delivery which GHF is piloting now,' a spokesperson said. The Israeli government did not respond to request for comment. The deaths from starvation and aid-hub massacres come on top of at least 60,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli bombs and tanks. Studies have concluded that the real death toll is almost certainly much higher, and Israel has continued to deny international researchers and journalists entry into Gaza. Fakhri and other UN experts have repeatedly urged member states and corporations to act to stop the bombs and famine by cutting financial and military aid and trade with Israel, as well as broad-based economic and political sanctions. 'I see stronger political language, more condemnation, more plans proposed, but despite the change in rhetoric, we're still in the phase of inaction. The politicians and corporations have no excuse, they're really shameful. The fact that millions of people are mobilizing in growing numbers shows that everyone in the world understands how many different countries, corporations and individuals are culpable.' Fakhri argues that in light of the US persistent vetoing of ceasefire resolutions at the UN security council, it is incumbent on the UN general assembly to call for peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys into Gaza. 'They have the majority of votes, and most importantly, millions of people are demanding this. Ordinary people are trying to break through an illegal blockade to deliver humanitarian aid, to implement international law their governments are failing to do. Why else do we have peacekeepers if not to end genocide and prevent starvation?'
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
Oil producer pressure, Trump rollbacks threaten global treaty on plastics pollution
GENEVA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Hopes for a "last-chance" ambitious global treaty to curb plastic pollution have dimmed as delegates gather this week at the United Nations in Geneva for what was intended to be the final round of negotiations. Diplomats and climate advocates warn that efforts by the European Union and small island states to cap virgin plastic production - fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas - are threatened by opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump. Plastic production is set to triple by 2060 without intervention, choking oceans, harming human health and accelerating climate change, according to the OECD. "This is really our last best chance. As pollution grows, it deepens the burden for those who are least responsible and least able to adapt," said Ilana Seid, permanent representative of Palau and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Delegates will meet officially from Tuesday for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in South Korea late last year ended without a path forward on capping plastic pollution. The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty. Delegates told Reuters that oil states, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, plan to challenge key treaty provisions and push for voluntary or national measures, hindering progress toward a legally binding agreement to tackle the root cause of plastic pollution. Government spokespeople for Saudi Arabia and Russia were not immediately available for comment. Andres Del Castillo, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a non-profit providing legal counsel to some countries attending the talks, said oil states were questioning even basic facts about the harm to health caused by plastics. "We are in a moment of revisionism, where even science is highly politicized," he said. The U.S. State Department told Reuters it will lead a delegation supporting a treaty on reducing plastic pollution that doesn't impose burdensome restrictions on producers that could hinder U.S. companies. A source familiar with the talks said the U.S. seeks to limit the treaty's scope to downstream issues like waste disposal, recycling and product design. It comes as the Trump administration rolls back environmental policies, including a longstanding finding on greenhouse gas emissions endangering health. Over 1,000 delegates, including scientists and petrochemical lobbyists, will attend the talks, raising concerns among proponents of an ambitious agreement that industry influence may create a watered-down deal focused on waste management, instead of production limits. The petrochemical industry said it continues to support a global treaty and has been urging the U.S. administration and Congress to "lean in" in negotiations. Stewart Harris, spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Associations, said the U.S. in particular has an opportunity "not just at the negotiating table, but really on the implementation of the agreement" to promote the use of new technologies in mechanical recycling and advanced recycling, which turns plastic waste into fuels, plastics and other products, globally. Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers sent separate letters to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday pushing for divergent approaches. A group of House of Representatives Republicans led by Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas urged the U.S. delegation to push for a treaty that focuses on expanding recycling technology, while a group of Senate Democrats led by Senator Jeff Merkely of Oregon pushed for a deal that includes plastic production caps. Two-thirds of the Senate is needed to ratify a treaty. Small island states are particularly impacted by plastic waste washing ashore, threatening their fishing and tourism economies. They stress an urgent need for dedicated international funding to clean up existing pollution. "Plastics are a concern for human health because (plastic) contains about 16,000 chemicals, and a quarter of these are known to be hazardous to human health," said Dr. Melanie Bergmann of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany. Jodie Roussell, global public affairs lead at food giant Nestle (NESN.S), opens new tab and a member of a 300-company coalition backing a treaty to reduce plastic pollution, told Reuters that harmonizing international regulations on packaging reduction and sustainable material use would be the most cost-effective approach. French politician Philippe Bolo, a member of the global Interparliamentary Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, said that a weak, watered-down treaty that focuses on waste management must be avoided. Bolo and a diplomatic source from a country attending the talks said the potential of a vote or even a breakaway agreement among more ambitious countries could be explored, as a last resort. Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, however, said countries should push for a meaningful pact agreed by consensus. "We're not here to get something meaningless... you would want something that is effective, that has everybody inside, and therefore everybody committed to it," she said.
