UN Team Inspects Massacre Sites in Syria As Clashes Expand to Capital

By Staff, Agencies

Local sources revealed that a United Nations delegation was seen entering the city of Jableh in the Latakia countryside, Syria, for the first time on Sunday night.

The UN team was accompanied by members of the new regime's General Security, touring the neighborhoods of Jableh, where they inspected the shops and homes that were looted and burnt recently.

This comes after a wave of violence swept western Syria, which resulted in killing more than 1,018 Syrians, the vast majority of whom are civilians, including women and children, as per report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights [SOHR].

Earlier in the day, the [SOHR] reported that the death toll from the ongoing violence in northwestern Syria has risen to over 1,000 people in two days, including 745 civilians, who were killed mostly execution-style, 125 HTS militants and 148 members of opposition groups. 

Early Monday, reports mentioned that intense clashes took place near a "Political Security" branch, a security facility now under the control of the new regime, located in the Al-Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus.

Sources informed Al Mayadeen that a checkpoint manned by General Security forces was targeted in an attack.

The Al Watan newspaper reported that Syrian security forces are actively defending against the assault, working to neutralize the attackers and restore control of the area.

Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian Transitional Presidency announced the formation of an independent national committee tasked with investigating the recent violence along the coast.

According to the presidency's statement, the committee's primary objectives include determining the causes and circumstances that led to the events, probing the violations suffered by civilians, and identifying those responsible for the attacks.

The statement emphasized that the committee would also investigate assaults on institutions, security personnel, and the army, with a strong call for all government bodies to fully cooperate to ensure the investigation's success.