A man, identified as Haytham al-Refa’ie, who was in his fifties, was shot dead on May 27, 2024, by gunmen we have not yet been able to identify who shot him in his home city of Nawa in western rural Daraa governorate. The area is under the control of Syrian regime forces.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes that Haytham is a civilian who had never been involved with any military formation. He has been accused of engaging in sorcery, however.
SNHR is still trying to locate eyewitnesses to obtain more information about the incident.
We call on the controlling forces to uphold their responsibilities for protecting civilians in their areas, to investigate this incident, and to make the investigation’s findings known to the public. Syria will never have true stability without a genuine political transition process towards democracy within a fixed timetable.
