Viral Video: Chilling footage shows 'execution' of medical staff at Syria hospital

A PURPORTED video clip shows what appears to be a few men in military garb killing a medical worker at a hospital in the city of Sweida in southern Syria.

Mint could not verify the authenticity of the clip.

The video was published by activist media collective Suwayda 24. The groups said the gunmen were from the Syrian military and security forces, Associated Press reported.

The incident was caught on security cameras installed at the hospital.

The clip dated July 16 showed a group of armed men forcing staff in a Syrian hospital to kneel, and then they “executed” one of them who resisted.

In the video, which was widely shared on social media, a large group of people in scrubs could be seen kneeling on the floor in front of a group of armed men.

A few moments later, the armed men grab a man and hit him on the head as if they are going to apprehend him.

The man tries to resist by wrestling with one of the gunmen before he is shot once with an assault rifle and then a second time by another person with a pistol.

In the video, a man in a dark jumpsuit with “Internal Security Forces” written appears to be guiding the men in camouflage into the hospital.

Another security camera shows a tank stationed outside the facility, Associated Press reported.

What did Syrian govt say?

A Syrian government official was quoted by Associated Press as saying that they could not immediately identify the attackers in the video, and are investigating the incident to try to figure out if they are government-affiliated personnel or gunmen from tribal groups.

In a statement posted by state-run news agency SANA, Syria’s Interior Ministry said Deputy Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Al-Tahhan was assigned to oversee the investigation "to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and arrested as quickly as possible.”

“We condemn and denounce this act in the strongest terms, and we affirm that the perpetrators will be held accountable and brought to justice to receive their just punishment, regardless of their affiliations," the statement read.

The government had last month set up a committee tasked with investigating attacks on civilians during the sectarian violence in the country’s south, which is supposed to issue a report within three months.

The violence: What's the dispute?

The video was shot amid the intense clashes between militias of the Druze minority community and armed tribal groups and government forces.

The incident at the Sweida National Hospital exacerbates tensions between the Druze minority community and the Syrian government after clashes in July between Druze and armed Bedouin groups targeted sectarian attacks against them.

The violence has worsened ties between them and Syria's Islamist-led interim government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who hopes to assert full government control and disarm Druze factions.

Though the fighting has largely calmed down, government forces have surrounded the southern city and the Druze have said that little aid is going into the battered city, calling it a siege.

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