Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has launched an investigation after hundreds of people were killed in fighting between security forces and fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous.
“We announce the formation of a fact-finding committee regarding the events on the coast and form a higher committee,” al-Sharaa said in an address to the nation on Sunday following days of violent unrest.
The Syrian leader said that the country was confronting attempts to drag it into a civil war. In his speech, al-Sharaa said that “remnants of the former regime” had no choice but to surrender immediately as he vowed to hold accountable “anyone involved in civilian bloodshed”.
The Syrian presidency earlier announced that an “independent committee” had been formed to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them”, adding that the perpetrators would be referred to court.
“The Committee has the right to use whoever it deems appropriate to perform its duties, and submit its report to the Presidency of the Republic within a maximum period of thirty days from the date of issuance of this decision,” the presidency’s statement read.
According to Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, the clashes on Sunday took place in the town of Qardahah in Latakia.
“Qardahah is symbolically an extremely important [city], because it is the birthplace of the al-Assad regime,” said Serdar, reporting from Damascus.
“But one of the critical locations … is Baniyas, in Tartous. Banias is home to the largest oil refinery in Syria, and the security forces are saying that remnants of the old regime [have] several times attempted to attack that oil refinery,” he added.
The violence in Banias came despite a call for peace by al-Sharaa earlier on Sunday.
Al Jazeera
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