Syria
Syrian security forces deployed in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda before the July ceasefire. File photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian authorities have arrested an internal security officer accused of killing four civilians and seriously wounding a fifth in Suwayda province, state media reported on Sunday.
According to Syria’s state news agency, SANA, the incident took place on Saturday in the al-Mutuna area in the countryside of Suwayda, a Druze-majority province in southern Syria. Security officials said four civilians were killed and another was critically injured.
Hussam al-Tahan, commander of internal security forces in Suwayda, said preliminary investigations, aided by one of the survivors of the attack, pointed to a member of the local internal security directorate. “The individual was immediately detained and referred for investigation to complete legal procedures,” SANA cited him as saying.
Tahan described the attack as a “cowardly criminal act” and emphasized the authority’s commitment to holding anyone responsible accountable.
For his part, Suwayda Governor Mustafa al-Bakkour said in a statement on Sunday that the arrest of the suspect “sends a clear message: no one shall be shielded, and there is no immunity for anyone who spills the blood of citizens.”
Bakkour said the legal process would “serve as a deterrent to anyone who dares to compromise the security of the province and the peace of its inhabitants.”
The incident and Bakkour's remarks come after Swuayda saw intermittent violence last year, including clashes last July between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes that escalated with the involvement of Damascus forces and Israel, before a ceasefire was announced on July 19.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) in mid-August reported that the death toll from the Suwayda violence had reached 1,677, including “452 civilians field-executed” by Syrian government forces.
Since then, Syrian security forces have been deployed across much of the province, while Druze factions continue to control Suwayda city, though sporadic clashes have still been reported.
UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, in late July, reported that despite the ceasefire, numerous violations have been recorded. He warned that the situation in the Druze majority province remains “tense and volatile.”
In mid-November, the National Commission of Inquiry into events in the province said that members of Syrian state forces who committed violations during unrest in July “have been arrested and referred to the judiciary.”
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