A Syrian fact-finding committee investigating sectarian killings during clashes between the army and loyalists of Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday that no one was above the law and it would seek the arrest and prosecution of any perpetrators.
Pressure has been growing on Syria's new government to investigate after reports by witnesses and a war monitor of the killing of hundreds of civilians in villages of the Alawite sect.
"No one is above the law, the committee will relay all the results to the entity that launched it, the presidency, and the judiciary," the committee's spokesperson Yasser Farhan said in a televised press conference.
The committee was preparing lists of witnesses to interview and potential perpetrators, and would refer any suspects with sufficient evidence against them to the judiciary, Farhan added.
The UN human rights office said entire families including women and children were killed in the coastal region as part of a series of sectarian killings.
Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa told Reuters in an interview on Monday that he could not yet say whether forces from Syria's defense ministry - which has incorporated former opposition factions under one structure - were involved in the sectarian killings.
Asked whether the committee would seek international help to document violations, Farhan said it was "open" to cooperation but would prefer using its own national mechanisms.
Sharaa acknowledged to Reuters that some armed groups had entered without prior coordination with the defense ministry.
