Violence on Syria’s coast lasted four days with hundreds of civilians killed [OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images]
Syria has set up a fact-finding committee tasked with investigating the sectarian killings in the coastal region over the weekend, with observers warning that it faces serious challenges in bringing justice to victims and ensuring that calm returns to the country.
The committee, announced on Monday, has 30 days to report to the country’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa with its findings about the deadly events that took place between 6 and 10 March, in which over 800 people are believed to have been killed.
It is tasked with determining who is responsible for the killings and what caused the violence.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the committee’s spokesperson Yasser al-Farhan said it would listen to witnesses, whose identities will be protected.
“The new Syria is determined to enshrine justice and the rule of law, protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens, prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity,” he said.
The protection of witnesses by the committee was one key point highlighted by Razan Rashidi, the Executive Director of The Syria Campaign, to The New Arab.
“Civil society must also play a key role in monitoring the committee’s work to ensure accountability and prevent impunity,” she said.
There are still questions over who the committee will report to, raising questions about the body’s independence.
However, the committee is believed to have a greater distance from Syria’s authorities than other recently formed bodies, such as the one which organised Syria’s National Dialogue Conference.
It consists of seven people, all of whom worked for various opposition organisations unaffiliated with the Islamist HTS group , which dominates the current transitional government in Damascus.
Six of the members have extensive judicial experience dating back to before the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in 2011, with the seventh being a military commander in the non-HTS armed opposition.
Fadel Abdul Ghani, founder of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that although the committee members were reputable and had experience as lawyers and judges, some may lack experience in investigations.
“I think they need to rely more on experts who have prolonged experience in investigating human rights violations,” he told The New Arab.
According to an SNHR report published on Tuesday, a total of 803 people were killed in the violence, including 420 civilians and disarmed combatants who were killed by militias affiliated with the new government in Damascus with 39 children, 49 women, and 27 medical workers among the dead.
The violence started with attacks by forces loyal to the defunct Assad regime on 6 March which saw the killing of 172 members of security forces as well as 211 civilians, including women and children, according to SNHR.
The sectarian nature of the violence, which pitted Sunni-led security forces against the Alawite community which was associated with the previous Assad regime, meant that there should be Alawi representation on the committee, Abdul Ghani said.
He added that that was the only way all victims of the violence would be represented.
Haian Dukan, a lecturer in politics and international relations at Teesside University, told The New Arab that it was important for the government to show Syrians and the international community that it is in control of the situation.
“It’s very important to restore the faith of the international community in the Syrian government, and the faith of minorities as well to make them feel that the new government is able to protect them,” he said.
However, Dukan said that the government was at risk of alienating its own support base with the investigation.
“Punishing large numbers of those who conducted those attacks will weaken or fragment the support base for the new leadership, which might hinder its ability to face future [security] challenges,” he said.
On the other hand, if the government is not seen to do justice, Dukan said, this will create fear among Syria’s minorities, and the situation could be exploited by international actors seeking to undermine the transitional government.
Israel has continued to attack Syria, ordering that the south of the country be demilitarised, and tried to position itself as a “protector” of minorities, particularly the Druze community.
Forces loyal to the previous Assad regime have used areas inhabited by minorities to launch attacks on government forces. Dukan said that he feared such incidents could spark more sectarian retaliatory killings in a country scarred by over a decade of civil war that has yet to see justice and accountability.
“I worry that there might be something in the future that will then entail retaliation from people who already have accumulated grievances for the past decade as a result of the regime instrumentalisation of the Alawite and sectarian identity against them,” he said.
There is a danger that “similar attacks might provoke retaliation, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, a vicious cycle of chaos and violence”.
