Head of UN rights office urges accountability for killings in Syria’s Sweida

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By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -The head of the United Nations human rights office called on Friday for Syria’s interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for killings and rights violations in the southern city of Sweida.

Syria’s government sent troops this week to the predominantly Druze city to quell fighting between Bedouins and Druze, but the violence grew until a ceasefire was declared.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it had received credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting.

These included reports of summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of private property by security forces and individuals linked to Syria’s interim authorities, as well as other armed elements including Druze and Bedouins.

“This bloodshed and the violence must stop, and the protection of all people must be the utmost priority, in line with international human rights law,” OHCHR High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement.

At least 13 people were unlawfully killed in one recorded incident on July 15 when affiliates of the interim authorities opened fire at a family gathering, the OHCHR said. Six men were summarily executed near their homes the same day.

“My Office has received accounts of distressed Syrians who are living in fear for their lives and those of their loved ones,” Turk said.

Israel carried out airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday and also hit government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority with followers in Lebanon and Israel.

Turk shared his concern following reports of civilian casualties following Israeli airstrikes on Sweida, Daraa in the southwest, and on the centre of Damascus.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Miranda Murray)