BEIRUT (Reuters) -Syria has pledged to investigate clashes in the southern province of Sweida which killed hundreds of people last month -the second major episode of sectarian violence since the ouster of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
In a decree dated July 31, justice minister Muzher al-Wais said a committee of seven people – including judges, lawyers and a military official – would look into the circumstances that led to the “events in Sweida” and report back within three months.
The committee would investigate reported attacks and abuses against civilians and refer anyone proven to have participated in such attacks to the judiciary.
The violence in Sweida began on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.
The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had longstanding tensions over land and other resources.
A U.S.-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week.
In March, hundreds of Alawite civilians were killed after government-aligned forces deployed to Syria’s coastal areas following a deadly attack on new government forces by militias still aligned with Assad, who hails from the Alawite minority.
Assad’s brutal crackdown on protests against him in 2011 from within Syria’s Sunni majority spiralled into a nearly 14-year war. Western leaders are keen to ensure the new government, led by a former Sunni Islamist group that has its roots in global jihad, conducts an orderly democratic transition.
The fact-finding committee established after the March killings last month referred 298 people suspected of carrying out abuses against Alawites to the judiciary.
The committee said it found no evidence of commanders ordering troops to commit violations and that 265 people had been involved in the initial attack on government forces.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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