BEIRUT: Syrian rights activists have intensified demands for an independent probe into last month’s violence in Sweida province after new footage surfaced showing government forces allegedly killing a volunteer medic inside a hospital.
The video published by local outlet Suwayda 24 appears to show armed men in military uniforms shooting a medical volunteer during the July bloodshed that claimed around 1,400 lives.
A witness who appears in the footage confirmed to AFP the incident occurred on July 16 when he responded to the hospital’s call for volunteers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the footage as evidence of a “shocking field execution” by security personnel.
Fadel Abdul Ghany of the Syrian Network for Human Rights dismissed the government’s investigative committee as lacking credibility.
UN investigators must enter Sweida immediately to examine these violations, said Mohammad al-Abdallah of the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre.
Prominent Druze musician Samih Choukaer condemned the killings on social media, stating such evidence would topple governments in respectable nations.
Syrian authorities have not responded to requests for comment regarding the newly emerged footage. – AFP
