Syria detains defence, interior ministry members suspected of Sweida violence

By Tala Ramadan

(Reuters) -Syria has interrogated and detained members of its defence and interior ministries suspected of committing abuses against civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Sweida in July, the committee investigating the violence has said.

Hundreds of people were killed in Sweida in violence that began between tribes and Druze factions but which worsened after Syrian troops were dispatched to the area. Bereaved relatives accused government forces of committing execution-style killings on camera.

Syria appointed a committee to investigate the violence on July 31. Its spokesperson Ammar Izzedin told Syrian and regional media outlets on Tuesday night that members of both the interior and defence ministries had been questioned and referred to the judiciary over their suspected involvement in abuses.

Izzedin declined to say how many personnel were detained, but said they were Syrian nationals who carried out the atrocities in an individual capacity.

He told regional broadcaster Al-Hadath the committee had confronted the suspects with "the video footage in which they were seen" committing abuses without specifying what they were.

Izzedin said the footage was "enough" as evidence since the fighters had filmed themselves, but that several had also confessed to committing the abuses after being shown the videos.

"They were detained by the interior and defence ministries to be transferred to the judiciary when the investigations are concluded to be publicly tried for the crimes they committed against Syrians," Izzedin said.

He told local outlet Syria TV that the committee was keen to act swiftly to arrest the suspects even as it continued its investigative work. He did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for additional comment.

Amnesty International urged Syrian authorities on Tuesday to hold members of government forces accountable for extrajudicial executions of Druze men and women on July 15 and 16 in Sweida.

In March, Syria's military was accused of mass killings of members of the Alawite minority, to which much of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ruling elite belonged.

A Syrian government fact-finding committee said in July that 1,426 people had died in March in attacks on security forces and subsequent mass killings of Alawites, but concluded that commanders had not given orders for the revenge attacks.

It said 298 suspects were linked to violations against Alawites and 265 involved in the initial attack on security forces, and said they had been referred to the judiciary.

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan; Additional reporting by Firas Makdesi; Writing by Maya Gebeily and Tala Ramadan, Editing by William Maclean)