NEW YORK - The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic warned today that renewed, brutal violence is jeopardizing the hard-won optimism that followed the fall of the former Syrian government in last year.
While praising initial steps toward justice, the Commission expressed deep concern that repeated massacres and human rights violations, including those allegedly committed by members of the interim government's security forces, risk plunging the country back into conflict.
In an address to the UN General Assembly in New York, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Commission, urged Syria's interim authorities and Member States to address the underlying causes of the recent violence and prevent its recurrence.
"The future of Syria is in the balance, and the country urgently needs assistance that goes well beyond the humanitarian appeal, which itself remains woefully underfunded" Pinheiro said.
Since December 2024, more than one million Syrian refugees have returned home, buoyed by an unprecedented wave of optimism. This progress has been underpinned by the establishment of the new Transitional Justice Authority and the National Authority on Missing Persons, which the Commission has welcomed as critical steps toward justice for victims. Furthermore, the interim authorities have granted the Commission full access to various parts of the country for on-site visits, including to Latakia, Tartus, Suweyda, and surrounding areas.
However, "despite the positive steps taken by the government towards state-building, repeated disturbing bouts of violence have tempered optimism about the interim authorities' ability to put an end to Syria's entrenched cycles of violence," Pinheiro said.
In March, an estimated 1,400 men, women, and children were killed in massacres in Latakia, Tartus, and Hama governorates, including by members of the interim government's security forces, sparked by coordinated attacks on them by forces loyal to the previous government. Armed individuals filmed themselves committing serious human rights violations targeting Alawi civilians, including executions, or while walking past dead and burning bodies strewn on the street.
"Alarmingly, the Commission continues to receive reports of extra-judicial killings, torture, ill-treatment, and forced displacement of Alawi civilians in Damascus and western governorates," Pinheiro said.
During recent visits to Suweyda city and rural parts of Suweyda heavily affected by violence in July, the Commission teams met victims, survivors and witnesses from all communities who recounted the killings of family members.
The Commission's investigations continue, but for now the humanitarian needs for the displaced communities, Druze and Bedouin alike, are massive and require urgent action as winter approaches.
Pinheiro underscored a growing concern regarding violence and discrimination against women, citing multiple reports of women and girls being abducted by unknown armed actors, with some reportedly subjected to sexual violence and forced marriage. Families report a lack of action by local authorities to investigate these disappearances.
Additional swift, concrete efforts are necessary to hold perpetrators accountable and rebuild trust between the state and impacted communities. This includes combatting incitement, both online and offline, which is fuelling violence both in the coastal areas, in Suweida and elsewhere. Such inflammatory hate speech, combined with perceived impunity following repeated massacres, raises grave concerns that the stage is set for further violence unless swift action it taken on reform and prevention. "The challenges facing the interim authorities are enormous and require the concerted attention, support and resources of Member States to address them," said Pinheiro.
The Commission also raised serious concerns over external interference, calling on Member States to take urgent action to prevent the forced displacement and arbitrary detention of civilians resulting from Israel's advance into southern Syria last December, as well as continued Israeli airstrikes. These third-State interventions risk further inflaming the conflict and inflicting even greater suffering on the Syrian people.
Tensions in northeast Syria also remain, with clashes reported in Aleppo city and near the Tishreen dam in early October.
"A safe, rights-respecting Syria, reflecting the diverse mosaic of the country's religious and ethnic communities, requires strong, inclusive and effective state institutions, based on human rights and the rule of law," Pinheiro said. "We call on the interim authorities and Member States to urgently address the underlying causes of the recent violence, including hate speech, prevent the recurrence of violations and work to build trust between the State and impacted communities, including by holding those responsible to account."
"Concrete recommendations in this regard are set out in our recent report, which the foreign minister encouragingly indicated would serve as a roadmap," Pinheiro said. "Actions taken now will set the foundation for decades to come."
