Syria vows accountability after reports of mass killings spark global condemnation
Syria’s interim leader Sharaa says he will hold perpetrators responsible after a flurry of violence leaves almost 1,000 civilians dead
Syria’s new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered an international backlash against the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.
In its latest toll Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority community to which the toppled president belonged.
Its previous toll of 830 had specified the “executions” targeted Alawites in the Mediterranean coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said Sunday the killings “must cease immediately”, while the Arab League, the United Nations, the United States, Britain and other governments have condemned the violence.
At the UN in New York, diplomats said the US and Russia have asked the Security Council to meet behind closed doors on Monday over the escalating violence.
“We will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians … or who overstepped the powers of the state,” Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a video posted by state news agency SANA.