Syria: UN says it has credible reports of summary executions in Suweida
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government responded by deploying its forces to the predominantly Druze city of Suweida for the first time since Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December, ending 13 years of civil war.A fragile truce appeared to be holding in Suweida on Friday, two days after the government announced that it had agreed the military would pull out and responsibility for security would be handed to religious elders and some local factions.However, the fighting escalated and government forces were accused by residents and activists of killing Druze civilians and carrying out extrajudicial executions.According to Türk, the UN human rights office has documented the unlawful killing of at least 13 people on 15 July, when "armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities deliberately opened fire at a family gathering"."On the same day, they reportedly summarily executed six men near their homes in two separate incidents," he said.The office has also documented the public humiliation of a Druze men, including the forcible shaving of his moustache, which is an important cultural symbol for the Druze community."My office has received accounts of distressed Syrians who are living in fear for their lives and those of their loved ones," Türk said. "The deployment of state security forces should bring safety and protection, not add to the fear and violence."The BBC has contacted the Syrian government and security forces about allegations of summarily killings and other violations.
In a televised address early on Thursday, Sharaa vowed to hold the perpetrators accountable and promised to make protecting the Druze a "priority"."We are eager to hold accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state," he said.He went on to blame "outlaw groups", saying their leaders "rejected dialogue for many months".He also said the government had agreed that the military would pull out of Suweida and responsibility for security would be handed to religious elders and some local factions.State media have also cited authorities and tribes as accusing "outlaw groups" of carrying out "massacres" of Bedouin fighters and civilians and other violations.The UN human rights chief said there must be "independent, prompt and transparent investigations into all violations, and those responsible must be held to account, in accordance with international standards"."It is crucial that immediate steps are taken to prevent recurrence of such violence. Revenge and vengeance are not the answer," he added.Türk raised concerns regarding reports of civilian casualties resulting from Israeli air strikes on Suweida, Daraa and in the centre of Damascus, where the defence ministry's headquarters and a site near the presidential palace were hit.Israel said it carried out the strikes to stop government forces from attacking the Druze and to force the military to withdraw from Suweida province.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Thursday night that it had documented the killing of at least 594 people during the violence.The UK-based monitoring group reported that 300 members of the Druze religious minority were killed, including 146 fighters and 154 civilians, 83 of whom were "summarily executed" by members of the interior and defence ministry's forces.At least 257 government personnel and 18 Bedouin fighters were also killed, while three Bedouin civilians were summarily killed by Druze fighters, it added.
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
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EXCLUSIVE Truth behind Tube station brawl revealed: Man dumped toddler on floor to pile into massive fight
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Times
39 minutes ago
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Living in Gaza, accepted to Cambridge — blocked by Home Office
When Karam Elradie went up to the roof to try and get a phone signal, he knew he was risking his life. An Israeli army base was just in front and any movement could prompt them to launch a drone and fire. But he was desperate to check his application for Manchester University. While applying for university is stressful for most teenagers, the challenge for those in Gaza this year, staking their claim from the most dangerous place on earth, was on a completely different level. Some pupils had to transport exam papers through the rubble by donkey cart. Elradie had to do his interview with shrapnel in his leg after an IDF airstrike. Another candidate crossed dangerous territory to a makeshift wi-fi hub to take an online exam, only for the signal to cut out halfway through. Many were living in tents after their homes had been destroyed. 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While other countries such as Italy, Ireland, Germany and France have taken students to study in their universities, the Home Office is insisting students for UK universities first need to provide biometric data (fingerprints and photographs) to apply for a visa, even though the relevant Gaza office has been shut since the October 7 attacks in 2023 after which Israel launched its invasion. The nearest safe places with offices are Jordan and Egypt but the students need British government intervention to enable them to leave Gaza. Italy got round this by taking the data after the students had crossed the border while Ireland waived the requirement altogether, taking out 16 students in May. This approach has left students such as Malak, 19, who has a full scholarship to study history and politics at Downing College, Cambridge, from September, in a desperate situation. 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'I am living in one room in a relative's house with my father [a former professor of accounting and finance], my mother [a former maths teacher], my two younger siblings and my grandparents in the western parts of Gaza city. For the last two days there are no flour bags at all, so there is no sufficient access to food. We distribute meagre food between us every day. We don't know what we will eat tomorrow.' Cambridge, where she would have the opportunity to dine in a 19th-century hall in a gown, could hardly be more different. Nonetheless, Malak says she knows that studying at Cambridge is 'no piece of cake' so, after collecting water each morning at 6am half a mile away with her family, she studies whenever she can. 'I don't have sufficient access to the internet and it is expensive so I try my best to download books by the great thinkers when I can. 'I am currently reading a book called How Democracies Die and it is a great book. 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Now living in his uncle's kitchen in eastern Gaza City with five family members, he recounts over intermittent wi-fi how he completed his interview with shrapnel in his leg and head after the friend's house where he was pointing his phone was bombed. 'It was a hard struggle,' he said. Elradie and his family had to flee their home in northern Gaza when Israel launched its invasion after the October 7 attacks, and slept on the floor of a lecture room at al-Aqsa university with 44 other people for a month. When they returned home, everything had been looted. Desperate to complete his university application, Elradie borrowed his brother-in-law's iPhone and went to the rooftop which was the only place he could get a signal. But their roof overlooked an IDF base. 'Going up there wasn't just risky — it was life threatening,' he said. He crouched behind the water tank, knowing that if they saw movement they would send a drone to fire. 'That's how much I was prepared to risk for my education,' he said, shrugging. 'One day while checking my email, a helicopter gunship suddenly appeared and fired directly at me. One shell nearly blew my head off. Another missed my hand by inches and almost destroyed the borrowed phone which was my lifeline to the world.' Some time after that he was at the house of a friend, who had solar panels with which to charge his phone and laptop, when it was directly targeted. 'We were all wounded,' he said, 'but by some miracle none of us died.' Throughout the 21 months of war, he has been injured many times. 'I lost people I loved including one of my dearest friends who was killed just next door to me,' he said. Elradie, wearing glasses, said he had to move 'more times than I can count' After everything Elradie went through, he was 'overjoyed' to finally get a place at Manchester with a full scholarship. 'But now we are still stuck in Gaza,' he said. 'The war is still raging and our visas are the biggest barrier between us and our futures.' 'We are pleading with the British government to grant us biometric exemptions like other countries have done,' he added. 'We're not asking for a miracle. We risk losing everything, our lives, our scholarships we fought so hard to get, trapped in a warzone with an open door just out of reach.' One young woman has scholarships to study international development at Goldsmiths College, London, and Sussex University but they are both dependent on her taking an English exam which means going to an internet hub — something she is struggling to find time for in between finding food for her autistic son. 'I have no time to think of anything but the unbearable starvation happening here,' she said. 'My son is autistic and refuses to eat without bread but it's so hard to find flour. Today he kept screaming and beating himself from hunger so I had no choice but to collect some infested with weevils and worms that had been thrown away in a garage. How can I then go to the wi-fi hub? By the time I feed him and wash clothes for the next day and find someone to stay with him, I get to the hub and then I break down.' She refused to give her name because she said she was 'so ashamed'. • 'Over 30 people killed' in shootings near Gaza aid centres Many university principals as well as MPs have written to the Home Office as well as Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, but are yet to receive a reply. Among them are Lord Woolley, principal of Homerton College, Cambridge. 'Nearly 40 incredibly talented students in Gaza have earned highly competitive places and fully funded scholarships at top UK universities including at Cambridge,' he said. 'I have written to the government to urge them to assist in supporting them with safe passage to travel out of Gaza, just as other countries have done. These students have overcome unimaginable challenges to earn their places. We urge the government to support these students seeking an opportunity to learn so that they can contribute to the monumental effort of rebuilding their communities.' Kamran Yunus, the director of admissions at Downing College, described the government response as 'disappointing'. He said: 'The visa application process asks students to specify which visa centre they're going to do their biometrics. There's no box to say they've been all blown up. 'I am hoping the government will come up with a sensible strategy. Given that countries like Ireland, France, Germany, have managed to do this, I believe it is not beyond the capability of the UK government. 'These students just want to come and make a better life for themselves. They earned their places on competitive grounds and they should be able to come and be supported.' A government spokeswoman said they would not comment on individual cases but added: 'We are aware of the students and are considering the request for support. Clearly the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this challenging.'
Channel 4
an hour ago
- Channel 4
Syria sends forces to end violence between Bedouin and Druze militias
The Syrian government has declared that a ceasefire will be enforced to end clashes between Bedouin and Sunni tribal fighters – and Druze militias. But today the violence continued. Syria's president says forces have been sent to end fighting in southern Suwayda, where hundreds of people have been killed. On Wednesday, Israel attacked targets in central Damascus and Suwayda, claiming the strikes were carried out to protect the Druze population. Today, members of the Druze community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights again, briefly crossed into Syrian territory.
