The Independent National Commission to Investigate the Events of the Syrian Coast confirmed that it will take strict measures to hold accountable those involved in the violations witnessed in the provinces of Latakia and Tartous, stressing that "no one is above the law."
This came during a press conference held by the committee on Tuesday, following its meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, where it explained that all those involved in the violations will be held accountable within the powers granted to the committee.
The committee also announced that it will complete its investigations within 30 days, stressing its openness to international cooperation, but prefers to rely on national capabilities in managing the investigations.
The committee stressed that it will not be satisfied with the video clips spread on social media, but will work on the ground, and conduct direct interviews with witnesses and victims to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the investigations.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Monday that mass killings of members of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s minority sect were a threat to his mission to unite the country, and promised to punish those responsible, including his own allies if necessary.
In his first interview to a global news agency, held after hundreds died in four days of clashes between Alawite Muslims and Syria’s new Sunni authorities, al-Sharaa blamed pro-Assad groups backed by foreigners for triggering the bloodshed but acknowledged that revenge killings had followed.
“Syria is a state of law. The law will take its course on all,” he told Reuters from the Damascus presidential palace, where al-Assad resided until al-Sharaa’s forces toppled him on December 8, forcing the ousted ruler to flee to Moscow.
“We fought to defend the oppressed, and we won’t accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us,” al-Sharaa said.
In a wide-ranging interview, al-Sharaa also said that his government had had no contacts with the United States since President Donald Trump had taken office. He repeated pleas for Washington to lift sanctions imposed in the al-Assad era.
Al-Sharaa said 200 members of the security forces had been killed in the unrest, while declining to say the overall death toll pending an investigation, which will be conducted by an independent committee announced on Sunday before his interview.
A UK-based war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that as of Sunday night as many as 973 Alawite civilians had been killed in revenge attacks, after fighting in which more than 250 Alawite fighters and more than 230 members of the security forces had died.
Zaman al-Wasl
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