(Reuters) -The Syrian defence ministry said on Tuesday it was aware of reports of “shocking violations” by people wearing military fatigues in the country’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, and said it would launch an investigation.
Sectarian clashes have escalated in Sweida this month between the Druze – a religious minority native to the area – and Syrian Bedouin tribes. Ferocious fighting then broke out between Druze militia and government forces sent to the city to quell the unrest.
The fighting left over 300 people dead and drew in neighbouring Israel, which carried out airstrikes in southern Syria and on the defence ministry in Damascus last week. Israel said it was protecting the Druze, who form a significant minority in Israel.
On Friday, Israel and Syria agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and neighbours.
Syria’s Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said in a statement there would be “no tolerance” for perpetrators of human rights violations in Sweida, even if they were committed by ministry forces. A committee has been formed to investigate reports of killings by people wearing military fatigues and to try to identify them, he said.
Separately, the Syrian interior ministry said it had launched an investigation into reports of field executions committed by “unknown people” in Sweida.
“Such acts constitute serious crimes,” ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din Al-Baba said, stressing that the ministry was also working on identifying those involved.
A Syrian fact-finding committee said separately on Tuesday that 1,426 people had died in March in attacks on security forces and subsequent mass killings of Alawites, but concluded that commanders had not given orders for the revenge attacks.
The incidents in the coastal region were the worst violence to hit Syria since the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad last year. The new leadership is made up mainly of former anti-Assad rebel fighters, who are facing fresh unrest this month involving other minority groups in the southwest.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Menna Alaa El-Din and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Chris Reese and Rosalba O’Brien)
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