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2w ago

Syria Opens First Trial Over Coastal Massacres as Investigators Detain Security Forces in Sweida Probe

The moves test the transitional government's pledge to pursue accountability after sectarian massacres this year.

FILE - Syrian government security forces gather on a hillside as a convoy of ambulances and buses arrives at a checkpoint in the village of Busra al-Harir, southern Syria, on its way to Sweida province, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki, File)
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross Walga town as they mobilise amid clashes with Druze gunmen, near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on July 19, 2025. Syrian Bedouins and their allies fought Druze gunmen in the community's Sweida heartland for a seventh day despite a ceasefire ordered by the government following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Overview

  • A court in Aleppo began proceedings for 14 defendants tied to the March coastal bloodshed, including seven Assad loyalists and seven members of the new government's security forces.
  • The session was televised and adjourned to December, with possible charges ranging from sedition and inciting civil war to murder, looting and leading armed gangs.
  • Judge Hatem Naasan said unspecified security and military personnel were detained over July’s Sweida killings after investigators identified faces in social‑media videos and referred suspects to judicial authorities.
  • The coastal inquiry has referred 563 suspects to the judiciary and documented more than 1,400 deaths, while a separate UN probe reported that civilian targeting by government‑aligned factions was widespread and systematic.
  • Local Druze sources question the Sweida investigation’s credibility due to restricted access, as the provincial governor denies plans for a new operation and says a fragile ceasefire is being monitored.