Syrian President says Assad's supporters trying to drag country into civil war
Photo: Abu Mohammad al-Julani (Getty Images)
Syria's interim president, Ahmed Sharaa, responded to the outbreak of violence and armed clashes between supporters of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad and the new government, which resulted in the deaths of many hundreds of people. He promised to prosecute those responsible for the attacks, according to Reuters.
During a speech broadcast on national television and published on social media, the head of the Syrian Republic said that he would prosecute anyone who exceeded his authority.
Sharaa, whose rebel movement overthrew Assad's government last December, accused supporters of the former president and unspecified foreign powers of trying to foment unrest in Syria.
“Today, as we stand at this critical moment, we find ourselves facing a new danger - attempts by remnants of the former regime and their foreign backers to incite new strife and drag our country into a civil war, aiming to divide it and destroy its unity and stability,” he said.
"We will hold accountable, with full decisiveness, anyone who is involved in the bloodshed of civilians, mistreats civilians, exceeds the state's authority or exploits power for personal gain. No one will be above the law," Sharaa says.
“No one will be above the law,” the interim president emphasized in a video message after calling for national unity earlier.
Interim President Sharaa's office said it was setting up an independent committee to investigate the clashes between the two sides and the killings.
Change of power and overthrow of Assad in Syria
Assad fled to Russia last year after rebels led by Sharaa's Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew his government. This ended decades of brutal repression and a devastating civil war.
Meanwhile, some of the ousted dictator's closest advisers and supporters are reported to have remained in Syria.
Western countries, Arab states and Türkiye supported the Syrian rebels, while Iran, Russia and armed groups loyal to Tehran supported Assad in the civil war.
After Assad's overthrow, groups backed by Türkiye clashed with Kurdish forces that control most of northeastern Syria.
Reuters sources said that Israel has separately struck military targets in Syria and is asking the United States to help keep Syria weak.
Outbreak of violence in Syria, attacks and massacres
After the ouster of Assad, there was a relative lull, but recently, armed clashes have broken out. It is noted that the violence has increased against the background of the suppression of the uprising of the Alawite sect (the former dictator is a representative of this Shiite religious group) by forces associated with the new Syrian government.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,000 people were killed during the two days of fighting. It is noted that 745 were civilians, 125 were members of the Syrian security forces, and 148 were militants loyal to Assad.
The Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Sunday that a mass grave with the bodies of recently killed members of the security forces was discovered near Qardaha, Assad's hometown.
According to Western observers, the attacks in Syria have escalated into revenge killings of Alawites, as it is believed that representatives of this branch of Shiite Islam support the ousted dictator, and it was associated with Assad's atrocities during the war against Syria's predominantly Sunni population.
Earlier, a Reuters source in the Syrian security services said that the pace of fighting in the cities of Latakia, Jableh and Baniyas had slowed down, and law enforcement officers were searching the surrounding mountainous areas, where an estimated 5,000 Assad supporters opposed to the current government were hiding.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the killings of people on ethnic and religious grounds in Syria.
