Key points
- Syria’s al-Sharaa launches probe
- Vows accountability to perpetrators
- Syria will not be dragged into another civil war: al-Sharaa
BEIJING: China on Monday called for all warring parties in Syria to “immediately stop” the violence after reports of armed clashes.
“China follows closely the situation in Syria and is concerned about the large number of casualties caused by these armed clashes,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
In its latest toll Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority community to which the toppled president belongs.
Clashes
Fighting between the new security forces and loyalists of the former government erupted last Thursday, after earlier tensions, and escalated into reported mass killings.
Mao said China called on “relevant parties to immediately stop armed clashes and hostile actions, earnestly protect the safety of civilians, respect and adhere to the principle of inclusiveness”.
She also urged them to “find a national reconstruction plan that meets the will of the Syrian people through dialogue.”
Investigations
According to Al Jazeera, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has launched an investigation into the killings.
“We announce the formation of a fact-finding committee regarding the events on the coast and form a higher committee,” al-Sharaa said in an address to the nation on Sunday following days of violent unrest.
The Syrian leader said that the country was confronting attempts to drag it into a civil war. In his speech, al-Sharaa said that “remnants of the former regime” had no choice but to surrender immediately as he vowed to hold accountable “anyone involved in civilian bloodshed”.
The Syrian presidency earlier announced that an “independent committee” had been formed to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them”, adding that the perpetrators would be referred to court.
