Syrian group demands investigation into killings
2/27/2014 10:38:16 PM
The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group demanded an investigation Thursday into an ambush by government forces that state media said killed 175 rebels near Damascus a day earlier.
The Syrian National Coalition disputed the government report, saying the people killed were civilians trying to escape the siege imposed by President Bashar Assad's forces on suburbs of the Syrian capital.
The government and the rebels fighting to topple Assad often have conflicting reports on events and abuses in Syria. In the absence of independent media and international journalists, both camps actively try to control the narrative of the civil war.
The Syrian government said Wednesday that army troops killed 175 rebels, many of them al-Qaida-linked fighters, in an ambush described as one of the deadliest attacks by government forces against fighters near Damascus. State run media aired pictures of the aftermath, showing bodies, some of them bloodied, on the ground. Some wore military fatigues, but most were in civilian clothes with bags of belongings scattered nearby.
An opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the ambush in the eastern Ghouta region was carried out by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which has been instrumental in helping Assad's forces push back rebels entrenched in the suburbs of the capital city. It said most of those killed where members of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other Islamic brigades.
The Syrian National Coalition said pro-Assad forces, backed by Hezbollah fighters, ambushed "a convoy of civilians fleeing the siege in eastern Ghouta." In a statement, the group called on the United Nations to carry out an independent investigation.
It was not possible to verify either claim.
The Syrian National Coalition disputed the government report, saying the people killed were civilians trying to escape the siege imposed by President Bashar Assad's forces on suburbs of the Syrian capital.
The government and the rebels fighting to topple Assad often have conflicting reports on events and abuses in Syria. In the absence of independent media and international journalists, both camps actively try to control the narrative of the civil war.
The Syrian government said Wednesday that army troops killed 175 rebels, many of them al-Qaida-linked fighters, in an ambush described as one of the deadliest attacks by government forces against fighters near Damascus. State run media aired pictures of the aftermath, showing bodies, some of them bloodied, on the ground. Some wore military fatigues, but most were in civilian clothes with bags of belongings scattered nearby.
An opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the ambush in the eastern Ghouta region was carried out by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which has been instrumental in helping Assad's forces push back rebels entrenched in the suburbs of the capital city. It said most of those killed where members of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other Islamic brigades.
The Syrian National Coalition said pro-Assad forces, backed by Hezbollah fighters, ambushed "a convoy of civilians fleeing the siege in eastern Ghouta." In a statement, the group called on the United Nations to carry out an independent investigation.
It was not possible to verify either claim.