Syrians have denounced the recent violence and called for the end of sectarian killings [Izettin Kasim/Anadolu via Getty]
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has sent his condolences to a prominent Syrian Alawite activist who lost three of her brothers in the recent violence in Syria’s coastal region.
France-based Hanadi Zahlout told Al Araby TV on Sunday that she received a phone call from Al-Sharaa who paid his respects to her and her family, after Zahlout announced over the weekend that her brothers Ahmad, Abdelmohsen, and Ali were killed.
Al-Sharaa “promised me to form a committee of judges and law experts to investigate what happened, and I told him all the facts are available with the families of victims and this information has been passed onto security forces”.
Addressing the Syrian people, Zahlout said, “We revolted against Assad’s regime to build a decent country, one that respects human lives, and now we are faced with a huge challenge, so we need to adhere to the goals of our revolution and to human values that we demanded for 14 years”.
“We want a state based on the rule of law, we want our calls to be taken seriously, so that no other massacres are committed. We want there to be participatory and transparency by the government where all components of Syria, all Syrians, are law-abiding citizens”.
Zahlout last week said her brothers were killed with dozens of other villagers who were abducted from their homes and massacred in field executions.
“Not a [single] innocent person was killed in Syria without me raising their name and calling for their killers to be held accountable, whatever their sect and whoever the killer. Where are you my fellow Syrians?” she had written on Facebook.
Fighting between Syria’s new Islamist rulers and insurgents who support ousted president Bashar al-Assad has left over 1,000 people dead, most of them civilians.
Many of the killings have been sectarian-driven, prompting an outcry from Syrians and foreign governments.
The coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces are the Alawite heartland of Syria and where from the Assad family hails.
Al-Sharaa has vowed to punish those behind the violence, but also said he would not allow for external powers to destabilise Syria and harm its national unity.
There have been accusations against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon of supporting an insurgency in the coastal region.
Both Tehran and Hezbollah, who fought alongside Assad in the war and helped prop up his regime, have denied involvement.
