Syria vows justice after hospital killing video surfaces

Syria’s interior ministry announced on August 11th that it would hold accountable those involved in the purported killing of an unarmed man at a hospital during sectarian clashes in the country’s Sweida province, according to Arab News via AFP.

“We condemn and denounce this act in the strongest terms and affirm that the perpetrators will be held accountable and brought to justice… whatever their affiliation,” the ministry said. 

Sweida has been the location of severe sectarian clashes between the local Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, which started on July 13th. The violence quickly escalated, drawing the attention of government security forces and Israel, ultimately resulting in the deaths of around 1,600 and the displacement of 176,000 people.

Syria’s new government has been the subject of criticism and condemnation over its Sunni Islamist background and alleged opposition to non-Sunni minority rights. 

A local media outlet, Suwayda 24, published an alleged video of the incident on August 10th. Purportedly, the video the was from hospital surveillance camera footage recorded on July 16th. The video shows health care workers kneeling on the floor while suspected government-affiliated gunmen in military clothing shot a man dead at close range after a scuffle. The outlet identified the victim as an engineer volunteering with the hospital team. 

Rights activists called for accountability and an independent investigation after the video was published. Videos such as this are not isolated incidents, with other videos circulating in July that also seemed to show government security forces killing civilians. 

Syria’s interior ministry stated it appointed an official “to directly oversee the progress of the investigation to ensure the culprits are found and arrested as soon as possible.”

This is in line with the formation of a committee by authorities in late July to investigate the violence in Sweida, which should report its findings within the following three months. 

But activists have demanded an independent investigation to examine the violence. This follows public scepticism over the credibility of recent government findings on violence targeted against Syria’s Alawite community in March. 

The executive director of the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, Mohammad Al-Abdallah, said on August 10th that UN investigators “must enter Sweida immediately”, and called the medic’s killing a war crime. 

Although a ceasefire was declared on July 15th, tensions are still high in Sweida and access is still limited. Residents say Syria’s government is enforcing a blockade, a claim officials reject, noting that humanitarian convoys have been allowed in.

Arab News via AFP, Suwayda 24, Maghrebi.org