NEW YORK - The United Nations on Tuesday called on Damascus to hold perpetrators of sectarian violence accountable and to ensure that victims receive justice.
“it is vital that the government pursue accountability, that all perpetrators, regardless of their own affiliation, whether professional or ethnic, be brought to justice, the families, the victims are entitled to justice,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told Rudaw in New York.
In March, violence erupted in Syria’s Alawite-majority coastal areas after armed groups, many loyal to ousted president Bashar al-Assad, launched attacks on forces allied with the government, prompting Damascus to respond with force.
At least 1,700 people, mainly Alawite civilians, were killed in the waves of violence, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said that most of the casualties were caused by government or government-affiliated forces.
On Tuesday, a fact-finding committee probing the violence in the coastal areas identified 298 suspects complicit in the violence, which included “murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture, and sectarian insults.