Latest news with #Syria
Irish Times
18 minutes ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Clashes in Syria ‘have killed 1,200 and triggered humanitarian crisis'
Clashes in Syria between Druze and Bedouin factions and assaults on civilians in the country's southern Sweida province have killed 1,200 and displaced at least 93,000 people, according to the United Nations . The violence, exacerbated by Syrian government intervention and Israeli air strikes, has triggered a humanitarian crisis, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday, with widespread disruption to electricity, water and healthcare. A Sweida city resident said: 'All our food spoiled, we had to throw it out. We're showering in our own sweat. I scraped mould off a carton of yoghurt and fed it to my children. What we need most now is water and electricity.' While communities in Sweida are suffering, 'political obstacles and deep mistrust are holding up humanitarian aid', HRW deputy Middle East director Adam Coogle said. READ MORE 'No matter who controls the territory, humanitarian assistance needs to be allowed in immediately and without interference.' HRW said: 'Most hospitals are out of service due to physical damage, staff shortages, roadblocks and fuel and supply disruptions.' Displaced families face 'growing public health risks, including reports of unburied bodies in residential areas', it said. Conditions at the national hospital in Sweda were 'catastrophic', witnesses told HRW. It cited a local journalist who 'saw many corpses in the hospital and morgue, including children and entire families'. HRW said that 'armed groups and civilians have been transporting the dead and wounded in private vehicles, while volunteers have documented fatalities'. This round of v iolence began on July 12th with heavy fighting between militias 'aligned with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a spiritual leader of Sweida's Druze community, and pro-government Bedouin fighters', HRW said. After Syrian interior and defence ministry units imposed curfews on July 14th and attempted to restore order, 'residents reported looting, home burning, sectarian abuse and summary executions, including of women and children', HRW said. 'Bedouin armed groups and Druze militias have also been implicated in serious abuses.' When the first Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy entered Sweida on Sunday, the health ministry spokesman said Hijri had barred accompanying government representatives. The SARC reported on that day assaults on its volunteers, torching of a warehouse, and firing on an ambulance, HRW said. A second, independent SARC convoy was expected on Tuesday. UN agencies, international humanitarian groups, diplomats and foreign journalists had been barred from entering Sweida, HRW said. Separately, a Syrian fact-finding committee said on Tuesday that 1,426 people died in March in attacks on security forces and subsequent mass killings of Alawites, but it also said commanders had not given orders for the revenge attacks. Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa has struggle to stabilise and unify the fragile state eight months after he led a rebel offensive that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad's . regime.
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- Health
- BBC News
'They shot patients in beds' – BBC hears claims of massacre at Suweida hospital
Syrian government forces have been accused of carrying out a massacre at a hospital during sectarian clashes which erupted just over a week ago. The BBC has visited Suweida's National Hospital where staff claim patients were killed inside This story contains descriptions of violence The stench hit me before anything the car park of the main hospital in Suweida City, dozens of decomposing corpses are lined up in white plastic body are open to the elements, revealing bloated and mutilated remains of those who were killed tarmac beneath my feet is greasy and slippery with blood. In the sweltering sun, the smell is overwhelming."It was a massacre," Dr Wissam Massoud, a Neurosurgeon at the hospital tells me."The soldiers came here saying they wanted to bring peace, but they killed scores of patients from the very young to the very old."Earlier this week, Dr Massoud sent me a video which he said was in the immediate aftermath of the government it, a woman shows you around the hospital. On the ground in the wards are dozens of dead patients still bundled up in their bloodied bed sheets. Everyone here, doctors, nurses, volunteers say the same last Wednesday evening, it was Syrian government troops targeting the Druze community who came to the hospital and carried out the Abu Motab, a volunteer at the hospital, said of the victims: "What is their crime? Just for being a minority in a democratic country?""They are criminals. They are monsters. We don't trust them at all," Osama Malak an English teacher in the city told me outside the hospital gates."They shot an eight-year-old disabled boy in the head," he said."According to international law, hospitals should be protected. But they attacked us even in the hospitals."They entered the hospital. They started shooting everybody. They shot the patients in their beds as they slept."All sides in this conflict have been accusing each other of committing Bedouin and Druze fighters as well as the Syrian Army have been accused killing civilians and extra judicial killings. There is not yet a clear picture of what happened at the hospital. Some here estimate the number of people to be killed last Wednesday at more than 300 but that figure cannot be Tuesday night the Syrian defence ministry said in a statement it was aware of reports of "shocking violations" by people wearing military fatigues in the country's predominantly Druze city this week Raed Saleh, the Syrian Minister for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, told me that any allegations of atrocities committed by all sides would be fully investigated. Who are the Druze and why did Israel attack Syria?Bedouins tell BBC they could return to fighting Druze in SyriaBBC sees fragile ceasefire holding in Syria's battle-scarred Suweida province Access to Suweida City has been heavily restricted meaning gathering first hand evidence has been city is in effect under siege with Syrian government forces restricting who is allowed in and get in we had to pass through numerous we entered the city, we passed burned out shops and buildings, cars that had been crushed my City had clearly seen a serious battle between Druze fighters and Bedouin was at that point that the Syrian government first intervened to try and enforce a ceasefire. Although numerous Druze villages in Suweida province have been recaptured by government forces, Suweida City, home to more than 70,000 people, remains under full Druze we left the hospital, we found eight-year-old Hala Al Khatib sitting on a bench with her face is bloodied and bandaged. She appears to have lost an tells us that gunmen came and shot her in the head at she was hiding in a cupboard in her doesn't know it, but both Hala's parents are dead.
Al Arabiya
21 minutes ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Syria vows to hold perpetrators of violence in Sweida accountable
The Syrian defense ministry said on Tuesday it was aware of reports of 'shocking violations' by people wearing military fatigues in the country's predominantly Druze city Sweida. Syria's Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said there will be 'no tolerance' to perpetrators in Sweida, even if they were a member of the defense ministry, according to a statement by the ministry.
Arab News
21 minutes ago
- Politics
- Arab News
US envoy urges Syria's Sharaa to revise policy or risk fragmentation
BEIRUT: A US envoy has urged Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to recalibrate his policies and embrace a more inclusive approach after a new round of sectarian bloodshed last week, or risk losing international support and fragmenting the envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack said he had advised Sharaa in private discussions to revisit elements of the pre-war army structure, scale back Islamist indoctrination and seek regional security an interview in Beirut, Barrack told Reuters that without swift change, Sharaa risks losing the momentum that once propelled him to should say: 'I'm going to adapt quickly, because if I don't adapt quickly, I'm going to lose the energy of the universe that was behind me,' Barrack said. He said Sharaa could 'grow up as a president and say, 'the right thing for me to do is not to follow my theme, which isn't working so well.''Sharaa, leader of a former Al-Qaeda offshoot, came to power in Syria after fighters he led brought down President Bashar Assad in December last year after more than 13 years of civil his own fighters have roots in Sunni Muslim militancy, Sharaa has promised to protect members of Syria's many sectarian minorities. But that pledge has been challenged, first by mass killings of members of Assad's Alawite sect in March, and now by the latest violence in the of people have been reported killed in clashes in the southern province of Sweida between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and Sharaa's own forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said was mass killing of Druze by government said the new government should consider being 'more inclusive quicker' when it comes to integrating minorities into the ruling he also pushed back against reports that Syrian security forces were responsible for violations against Druze civilians. He suggested that Daesh group militants may have been disguised in government uniforms and that social media videos are easily doctored and therefore unreliable.'The Syrian troops haven't gone into the city. These atrocities that are happening are not happening by the Syrian regime troops. They're not even in the city because they agreed with Israel that they would not go in,' he said.'No successor' to SharaaThe US helped broker a ceasefire last week that brought an end to the fighting, which erupted between Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions on July said the stakes in Syria are dangerously high, with no succession plan or viable alternative to the country's new government.'With this Syrian regime, there is no plan B. If this Syrian regime fails, somebody is trying to instigate it to fail,' Barrack said. 'For what purpose? There's no successor.'Asked if Syria could follow the dire scenarios of Libya and Afghanistan, he said: 'Yes, or even worse.'The US has said it did not support Israel's airstrikes on Syria. Barrack said the strikes had added to the 'confusion' in says Syria's new rulers are dangerous militants, and has vowed to keep government troops out of the southwest and protect Syria's Druze minority in the area, encouraged by calls from Israel's own Druze said his message to Israel is to have dialogue to alleviate their concerns about Syria's new Sunni leaders and that the US could play the role of an 'honest intermediary' to help resolve any said Sharaa had signaled from the beginning of his rule that Israel was not his enemy and that he could normalize ties in due said the United States was not dictating what the political format of Syria should be, other than stability, unity, fairness and inclusion.'If they end up with a federalist government, that's their determination. And the answer to the question is, everybody may now need to adapt.'
The National
an hour ago
- Politics
- The National
Syria's Kurdish fighters say laying down arms 'impossible'
Kurdish fighters in Syria have said it is 'impossible' to lay down their arms amid a flurry of sectarian violence in the country. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish militia, made a deal with President Ahmad Al Shara in March to merge with Syria's state institutions. The deal was part of Mr Al Shara's efforts to unify the country after years of civil war in Syria, in which various armed groups held sway in parts of the country. The SDF peace process has not gone smoothly though, with the authorities in Damascus accusing the US -backed militia of dragging its feet. An outbreak of fierce fighting in the south of Syria, with troops sent to quell unrest involving Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority, has cast further doubt on Mr Al Shara's efforts to hold Syria together. And under pressure from Washington, Syria has mounted raids against members of ISIS as the extremist group threatens to stage a resurgence. 'In light of the ongoing tensions in Syria, the escalating violence, and the threat of ISIS, it is impossible for our forces to surrender their weapons,' Kurdish media quoted SDF spokesman Abjar Daoud as saying on Tuesday. 'The SDF can join the Syrian army through a constitutional agreement that recognises the uniqueness of the Kurdish component,' he said. He added that the SDF 'is not in favour of war' but would 'defend its people' if necessary. Turkey, which opposes Kurdish autonomy, warned on Tuesday that it could intervene to stop any attempt to break up Syria. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's comments appeared to be aimed at Israel, which last week bombed Damascus on behalf of the Druze minority. Turkey has condemned the Israeli strikes as an attempt to sabotage Syria's efforts to establish peace. Mr Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos. 'God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realised,' he said. In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced 'a big strategic catastrophe'. 'This leads nowhere,' he said.
