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Syria Detains Interior, Defense Ministry Members Suspected of Sweida Violence

Smoke rises from clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in Sweida on July 19, 2025. (dpa) 
Smoke rises from clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in Sweida on July 19, 2025. (dpa) 
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Syria Detains Interior, Defense Ministry Members Suspected of Sweida Violence

Smoke rises from clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in Sweida on July 19, 2025. (dpa) 
Smoke rises from clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters in Sweida on July 19, 2025. (dpa) 

Syria has interrogated and detained members of its defense and interior ministries suspected of committing abuses against civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Sweida in July, the committee investigating the violence has said.

Hundreds of people were killed in Sweida in violence that began between tribes and Druze factions but which worsened after Syrian troops were dispatched to the area. Bereaved relatives accused government forces of committing execution-style killings on camera.

Syria appointed a committee to investigate the violence on July 31. Its spokesperson Ammar Izzedin told Syrian and regional media outlets on Tuesday night that members of both the interior and defense ministries had been questioned and referred to the judiciary over their suspected involvement in abuses.

Izzedin declined to say how many personnel were detained, but said they were Syrian nationals who carried out the atrocities in an individual capacity, according to Reuters.

He told regional broadcaster Al-Hadath the committee had confronted the suspects with “the video footage in which they were seen” committing abuses without specifying what they were.

Izzedin said the footage was “enough” as evidence since the fighters had filmed themselves, but that several had also confessed to committing the abuses after being shown the videos.

“They were detained by the interior and defense ministries to be transferred to the judiciary when the investigations are concluded to be publicly tried for the crimes they committed against Syrians,” Izzedin said.

He told local outlet Syria TV that the committee was keen to act swiftly to arrest the suspects even as it continued its investigative work. He did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for additional comment.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International urged Syrian authorities to hold members of government forces accountable for extrajudicial executions of Druze men and women on July 15 and 16 in Sweida.

The human rights organization confirmed that 46 individuals—44 men and two women—were deliberately shot dead, while two older victims were subjected to mock executions. These killings took place across multiple locations, including a public square, private residences, a school, a hospital and a ceremonial hall, it added.

The Syrian Interior Ministry on Tuesday welcomed the Amnesty International report on events in Sweida, stressing its commitment to protecting all Syrians.

Ministry spokesperson Noureddine Al-Baba told the Syrian state-run news agency, SANA, that the Ministry “positively” view Amnesty report and hope it will contribute to strengthening human rights in Syria.

“We extend our hands to any party can help us establish the rule of law and provide justice to victims” he added.

 

 

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Arab World

War crimes committed in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN report

Remnants of a shell that targeted the refugee center, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohyaldeen M Abdallah
Remnants of a shell that targeted the refugee center, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohyaldeen M Abdallah
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War crimes committed in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN report

Remnants of a shell that targeted the refugee center, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohyaldeen M Abdallah
Remnants of a shell that targeted the refugee center, in El Fasher, Sudan, October 7, 2025. REUTERS/Mohyaldeen M Abdallah

The UN rights office on Friday accused Sudan's Rapid Support Forces of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during the capture of El-Fasher, saying some 6,000 were killed in just three days.

Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan's army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and triggered what the UN calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

During its final offensive in October, the RSF unleashed "a wave of intense violence... shocking in its scale and brutality" and amounting to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, said a report from the UN Human Rights Office, AFP reported.

The report said the RSF and allied Arab militia carried out widespread attacks, including mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances, pillage and the use of children in hostilities.

In many cases, these were directed against civilians and people outside combat based on their ethnicity or perceived affiliation, it said.

Based on interviews with over 140 victims and witnesses conducted in Sudan and eastern Chad in late 2025, the Human Rights Office said it documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive.

It said that of those, at least 4,400 people were killed within El-Fasher and over 1,600 others were killed as they fled along exit routes.

"The actual scale of the death toll during the week-long offensive is undoubtedly significantly higher," the office said.

The report voiced serious concerns over the fate of thousands of missing people.

"The unprecedented scale and brutality of the violence meted out during the offensive deeply compounded the horrific violations the residents of El-Fasher had already been subjected to during the long months of siege, constant hostilities and bombardment," said UN rights chief Volker Turk.

He said persistent impunity was fuelling the violence.

"There must be credible and impartial investigations to establish criminal responsibility, including of commanders and other superiors," Turk said.

"These must lead to meaningful accountability for perpetrators of exceptionally serious crimes, through all available means."

Arab World

US Military Completes Transfer of 5,700 ISIS Detainees from Syria to Iraq

US military vehicles move ahead of buses transporting ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Qamishli, Syria. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
US military vehicles move ahead of buses transporting ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Qamishli, Syria. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
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US Military Completes Transfer of 5,700 ISIS Detainees from Syria to Iraq

US military vehicles move ahead of buses transporting ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Qamishli, Syria. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
US military vehicles move ahead of buses transporting ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Qamishli, Syria. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

The US military has completed the transfer of thousands of ISIS group detainees from Syria to Iraq, where they are expected to stand trial in the future, the US Central Command said Friday. 

CENTCOM said that the transfer that began on Jan. 21 saw US forces transporting more than 5,700 adult male ISIS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody. 

The prisoners were transferred to Iraq at the request of Baghdad — a move welcomed by the US-led coalition that had for years fought against ISIS. 

“We appreciate Iraq’s leadership and recognition that transferring the detainees is essential to regional security,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. 

Iraq's National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with ISIS were transferred from prisons in Syria. 

The Center said most of the suspects were Syrian or Iraqi, though there were other foreign nationals from Europe as well as Australia, Canada and the United States, among other countries. 

Over the past three weeks, the US military escorted the detainees from prisons in northeastern Syria run by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, to Baghdad. 

The transfers have helped calm fears that the recent rounds of fighting in Syria between government forces and the SDF would allow the ISIS prisoners to flee from detention camps there and join militant sleeper cells that are still carrying out attacks in both Iraq and Syria. 

Iraq is looking to put on trial some of the thousands of the ISIS detainees who were held for years in Syria without charges or access to the judicial system. 

When ISIS declared a self-proclaimed territory in large parts of Syria and Iraq that the militant group seized in 2014, it attracted extremists from around the world. 

From the caliphate, the extremists plotted attacks around the world that left hundreds dead from Europe to Arab countries and Asia. 

“The successful execution of this orderly and secure transfer operation will help prevent an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said US Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Lambert, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, that led the mission planning, coordination, and execution. 

Iraq is in talks with other countries including Arab and Muslim states to repatriate ISIS prisoners, its foreign minister said. 

Speaking in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Fuad Hussein said Baghdad would need financial aid to deal with the influx and was worried about a rise in ISIS activity just over the border in Syria. 

Arab World

Floods Wreak Havoc in Morocco Farmlands after Severe Drought

Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought © - / AFP
Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought © - / AFP
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Floods Wreak Havoc in Morocco Farmlands after Severe Drought

Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought © - / AFP
Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought © - / AFP

In the Moroccan village of Ouled Salama, 63-year-old farmer Mohamed Reouani waded through his crops, now submerged by floodwaters after days of heavy downpours.

Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought.

But floods have now swamped more than 100,000 hectares of land, wiping out key crops and forcing farmers in the country's northwest to flee with their livestock, AFP reported.

"I have about four or five hectares" of crops, Reouani said. "All of it is gone now."

"Still, praise be to God for this blessing," he added while looking around at the water.

Morocco, where agriculture employs about a third of the working-age population, has seen seven consecutive years of drought.

As of December, its dams were only around 30 percent full on average, and farmers have largely relied on rainwater for irrigation.

Now their average filling rate stands at nearly 70 percent after they received about 8.8 billion cubic metres of water in the last month -- compared to just 9 billion over the previous two years combined.

- 'Took everything' -

Many like Reouani had at first rejoiced at the downpours.

But the rain eventually swelled into a heavy storm that displaced over 180,000 people as of Wednesday and killed four so far.

In his village, the water level climbed nearly two metres, Reouani said. Some homes still stand isolated by floodwater.

Elsewhere, residents were seen stranded on rooftops before being rescued in small boats.

Others were taken away by helicopter as roads were cut off by flooding.

Authorities have set up camps of small tents, including near the city of Kenitra, to shelter evacuees and their livestock.

"We have no grain left" to feed the animals, one evacuee, Ibrahim Bernous, 32, told AFP at a camp. "The water took everything."

Bernous, like many, now depends on animal feed distributed by the authorities, according to Mustapha Ait Bella, an official at the agriculture ministry.

At the camps, displaced families make do with little while waiting to return home.

"The problem is what happens after we return," said Chergui al-Alja, 42. "We have no grain left to feed our livestock, and they are our main source of income."

- Five percent growth -

On Thursday, the government announced a relief plan of some $330 million to provide aid to the hardest-hit regions.

A tenth of that sum was earmarked for farmers and livestock breeders.

Rachid Benali, head of the Moroccan Confederation of Agriculture and Rural Development, told AFP farming was "among the sectors most affected by the floods".

But he said "a more accurate damage assessment was pending once waters recede".

Benali added that sugar beet, citrus and vegetable farms had also been devastated by flooding.

Agriculture accounts for about 12 percent of Morocco's overall economy.

The International Monetary Fund anticipates that the massive rainfall will help the economy grow by nearly five percent.

Authorities are betting on expanded irrigation and seawater desalination to help the sector withstand increasingly volatile climate swings.

While Morocco is no stranger to extreme weather events, scientists say climate change driven by human activity has made phenomena like droughts and floods more frequent and intense.

Last December, flash floods killed 37 people in Safi, in Morocco's deadliest weather-related disaster in the past decade.

Neighbouring Algeria and Tunisia have also experienced severe weather and deadly flooding in recent weeks.

Further north, Portugal and Spain have faced fresh storms and torrential rain.