Syrian authorities announced Sunday that a government-appointed investigative panel has taken several soldiers and security officers into custody as part of a widening inquiry into the violence that devastated As-Suwayda’s Druze population in July. Committee officials said the detentions followed a review of video footage circulating online, which investigators said clearly identified individuals involved in violations during the unrest.
Judge Hatem al-Nassan, who heads the committee, told reporters in Damascus that military personnel were detained by defense authorities, while security personnel were held separately by interior officials. He said investigators visited both detention sites, questioned those held, and forwarded a formal list of charges to the judiciary. According to him, additional fieldwork will continue before a full assessment of the events can be completed.
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Al-Nassan said investigators found no indication of an organized outside force operating in the province, although he acknowledged that a small number of individuals from abroad may have entered the region on their own or alongside local tribal groups during the chaos.
Separately, committee spokespeople outlined the legal and procedural framework guiding the inquiry. The panel was established under a Justice Ministry decision issued earlier this year and, according to officials, operates under Syrian law, constitutional provisions, and international agreements the country has signed. Investigators said their work is based on standards drawn from the Geneva Conventions and UN investigative guidelines, with an emphasis on impartiality and independence.
The committee’s teams have spent recent months conducting on-site visits across multiple provinces, including rural Damascus, Idlib, Daraa, and As-Suwayda. Officials said they gathered physical evidence, recorded testimonies from witnesses and survivors, and pursued parallel inquiries into disappearances, abductions, and reported detentions. Some of those lines of investigation, they noted, have already produced “positive developments.”
As-Suwayda, a largely Druze province in southern Syria, saw intense clashes in July between armed local groups and government forces. The violence caused heavy casualties, damage to homes, and significant displacement. The committee is expected to deliver its final report to Syrian authorities once its remaining fieldwork is completed in the coming weeks.