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It was sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin
clans, mostly Sunni, and fighters with the Druze religious
minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Syrian government forces
intervened to end the fighting, but effectively sided with the
clans.
Disturbing videos and reports soon surfaced of Druze civilians
being humiliated and killed in public, sometimes accompanied by
sectarian slurs. Druze groups later launched revenge attacks on
Bedouin communities.
Syria's Justice Ministry said the committee would work to
uncover the “circumstances that led to the events in Sweida,"
investigate attacks and refer those implicated in them to the
judiciary, state-run news agency SANA reported. The committee is
to submit a final report within three months.
A similar committee was formed in March, when sectarian violence
on Syria’s coast killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite
religious minority, also a Shiite offshoot.
Attacks by armed groups affiliated with former President Bashar
Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, prompted Damascus to
send security forces, which descended on the coast from other
areas of the country, joined by thousands of armed civilians.
That committee found there had been “widespread, serious
violations against civilians,” including by members of Syria's
new security forces and that more than 1,400 people, most of
them civilians, were killed.
Its four-month investigation identified 300 people suspected of
crimes, including murder, robbery, torture and looting and
burning of homes and businesses. The suspects were referred for
prosecution, the committee said but did not disclose how many
were members of the security forces.
The outbreaks of violence have left Syria's religious and ethnic
minorities increasingly suspicious of the country's new
authorities, led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who
previously led the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham.
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