Israel accuses Syria’s new leadership of committing ‘massacres’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday accused Syria’s new rulers of “massacring” their own people and urged European nations to stop legitimizing the interim government in Damascus.

“This weekend, the masks came off, as [Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa - previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed] al-Jolani’s men mercilessly massacred their own people, the citizens of the so-called ‘New Syria,’” Saar said in a statement by the Israeli foreign ministry.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Sunday reported that around 1,018 people, mainly civilians, were killed in western Syria over the past four days. These casualties stemmed from clashes between loyalists of the ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and security forces affiliated with the new leadership in Damascus.

The UK-based Observatory added that the fatalities include “745 civilians killed in cold blood in sectarian massacres,” along with 125 government-affiliated forces, and 148 Assad regime loyalists.

The Israeli foreign minister on Sunday urged European countries not to “fail in reading reality,” adding that they “must wake up and must stop granting legitimacy to a regime whose first actions … are these atrocities.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, also condemned the violence on Sunday and called for an “immediate” end to the killing of civilians in western Syria.

“The killing of civilians in coastal areas in northwest Syria must cease immediately,” Turk stated, adding, “We are receiving extremely disturbing reports of entire families, including women, children and hors de combat fighters being killed.”

The violence has additionally drawn widespread condemnation from the European Union and the United Nations, France, Germany, the US, Iraq, and Iran. For their part, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have expressed support for Syria’s new authorities amid the unrest.

Syria's new leadership, led by Sharaa, took power after a swift offensive in early December by a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that toppled Assad's regime.

Following his appointment as interim president in late January, Sharaa pledged to uphold the rights of all ethnic and religious groups. However, his administration has faced repeated criticism for its treatment of Syria’s minority communities.

In response to the escalating violence, Sharaa on Sunday ordered the formation of an "independent national committee" to investigate the deadly clashes in western Syria. He also announced plans to establish a high-level committee aimed at "preserving civil peace" and "listening" to the people of Syria’s coastal areas, following several days of deadly violence.

Israel accuses Syria’s new leadership of committing ‘massacres’

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