Syria transition must ensure accountability for past crimes, says UN

NEW YORK, Dec 09 (AFP): Any political transition in Syria following the fall of president Bashar al-Assad must include accountability for him and others behind crimes committed under his rule, the UN rights chief said Monday.

"Any political transition must ensure accountability for perpetrators of serious violations and guarantee that those responsible are held to account," Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.

Asked about whether Assad was among those who should be brought to account, he said the "former president of Syria and whoever was in senior leadership positions, there are indeed serious grounds to believe that they may have committed atrocity crimes".

"It is imperative that all evidence be collected and preserved meticulously for future use."

His comments came after Assad fled Syria as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his oppressive rule.

Assad's government fell 11 days after the rebels began a surprise advance, more than 13 years after Assad's crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria's civil war-which had become largely dormant until the rebel push.

Syria's war has killed more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.

Turk described "the most serious human rights violations... including torture and the use of chemical weapons".

The sudden and dramatic shift in Syria brought "hope that this would be an opportunity for the country to build a future grounded in human rights, freedom and justice", Turk said.

He added that "reform of the security apparatus will be key".

"This transition must also ensure that the tragedy of missing people is addressed," he said, pointing out that more than 100,000 people had disappeared during the civil war.

Turkish drone strike kills

11 civilians in N Syria

A Turkish drone strike in a Kurdish-held area in northern Syria killed 11 civilians including six children, a war monitor said Monday.

The attack comes a day after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive that saw them sweep swathes of territory from government control.

"Eleven civilians, including six children, all members of the same family, were killed in a Turkish drone strike targeting a house" near Ain Issa, north of the city of Raqa, in a Kurdish-held area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Turkish forces and their proxies have controlled territory in northern Syria since 2016 when they began targeting Kurdish fighters they link to a group waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

On Sunday, the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said at least 26 combatants were killed as Turkey-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on the northern Manbij area, west of Ain Issa.

"Pro-Turkish factions... seized large districts of Manbij city in the eastern Aleppo countryside, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council," the Observatory had said.

The council is affiliated with the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the de facto army of the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration that controls much of Syria's northeast.

The Turkey-backed fighters said they had "taken control of the city of Manbij... after fierce battles", in a statement on their Telegram channel.