UN officials in Geneva report over 100 civilian executions in western Syria

The UN has documented 111 executions of civilians in western Syria Keystone-SDA

The United Nations (UN) has reported 111 civilian executions in western Syria recently, most of them carried out summarily. However, verification is still ongoing and the actual number is likely much higher, a spokesperson in Geneva said on Tuesday.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

A Syrian NGO claims the number of executions could exceed 1,000. On Sunday, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged for swift, independent investigations. He welcomed the provisional authorities’ decision to set up a commission to establish the facts about these clashes with the Alawite community linked to former head of state Bashar al-Assad.

The executions seem to have been carried out for sectarian reasons by unidentified members of armed groups linked to the new regime. The victims include 90 men, 18 women and three children.

“It is extremely difficult to verify the identity of those responsible for the killings,” the spokesperson said. They seem to have acted spontaneously, but it’s unclear whether they were following orders or working in an organised manner to support the security forces’ counter-offensive against Alawite insurgents.

+ New country, old fear: an overview of Syria’s realities

The new president, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, has vowed to punish those responsible for the violence. On Monday, authorities announced they would end security operations in the coastal area after five days. The High Commission insists these individuals must be prosecuted. Meanwhile, sporadic clashes continue, according to the UN.

Arrangement welcomed by the UN

There have been reports of men being shot dead in front of their families during raids targeting Alawites. Looting followed in the following days, prompting many to flee. The UN fears that rising hate speech could escalate tensions across the country.

The High Commissioner’s office is relocating its Syria desk from Lebanon to Damascus, the spokesperson added. “We’ve received hundreds of emails” with information and photos from Syrians eager to collaborate with the UN.

On Tuesday, UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen welcomed the agreement announced on Monday between the provisional authorities and the Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). All civilian and military institutions run by the SDF in the northeast will now be under the central government’s authority. The agreement also recognises this minority as an “indispensable component” of the Syrian state.

On social media, Pedersen expressed hope that the agreement would “support and fuel a credible and broader” political process, in line with UN Security Council decisions. He also urged international players to stand by their Syrian allies.

Translated from French with DeepL/sp

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].