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Graphic videos documenting a deadly attack by Syrian government forces on the National Hospital in the southern governorate of al-Suwayda last month surfaced online on August 10.
The attack took place on July 16, three days after the Islamist-led interim government dispatched its forces in al-Suwayda to break a conflict between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouins. Government forces ended up backing the Bedouins and attempting to take over al-Suwayda city.
Israel intervened in support of the Druze, citing its historical relations with its own Druze community. The United States brokered a ceasefire on the day the hospital was attacked. However, Bedouins from all over the country gathered to attack Druze fighters. The fighting came to a halt only a few days later.
Druze fighters maintained control over al-Suwayda city along with nearly all of its eastern and southern countryside. Meanwhile, government forces held into most of the northern and western countryside of the governorate. The government has since then kept al-Suwayda under siege.
Throughout the fighting a series of war crimes by government forces and Bedouins were reported, from looting, to arson, abductions, torture and summary executions. The government later promised to investigate these violations, without outright taking responsibility.
Activists from al-Suwayda first reported a massacre in the National Hospital in the city just a few hours after it was stormed by government forces on July 16.
Following the withdrawal of the forces, dozens of bodies, some completely disfigured by gunfire, were recovered from the hospital.
One of the newly-released videos shows troops wearing the official uniforms of the Syrian military, and one wearing the uniform of security forces, beating up a hospital worker then executing him for no clear reason. The fighters had gathered all the workers in the main reception hall of the hospital. The body of the victim is later seen being dragged outside by one of the troops.
The victim has been identified by activists as Mohamad Bahsas, a Druze civil engineer who works in the hospital as a volunteer.
Other videos show government troops, some wearing batches featuring the black flag affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group, storming the hospital with support from a main battle tank, then opening fire inside and destroying the surveillance cameras.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, the battle in al-Suwaday claimed the lives of 1,620 people, including at least 401 Druze civilians who were executed on sectarian basis by government fighters and Bedouins.
The real death toll is expected to be much higher as the bodies of many Druze fighters and civilians are still laying on the ground in more than 30 towns held by government forces.
The conflict is not over yet. Clashes are still being reported in al-Suwayda on a daily basis, although on a very limited scale. The government seems determined to subdue the Druze, who, from their part, are demanding the complete withdrawal of all government forces from their governorate.
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