New mass graves discovered in Syria

Since the fall of the Baath regime, Syria has been actively searching for and excavating. To date, several mass graves have been discovered in the capital Damascus and the southern city of Daraa. These findings are seen as important evidence in revealing the scale of human rights abuses under the regime.

A mass grave discovered near Baghdad Bridge on December 8th was found to contain the remains of people who died from torture in various prisons. During the excavation, the bodies were found in prison bags with the names of the deceased written on them.

Excavations in the Isroa area of the southern city of Daraa have also uncovered more than 12 mass graves. Opposition forces have been digging using construction equipment and have so far found 31 bodies.

During the Baathist regime, Sednaya Prison in Damascus was a center of torture and extrajudicial executions. According to international organizations, tens of thousands of people have been executed in this prison since 2011. Many of them were buried in mass graves.

At least 100,000 people have gone missing since the start of the Syrian civil war. According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, more than 136,000 people have been tortured, the vast majority of whom were captured by the regime.

According to videos that emerged in April 2022, regime forces turned the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus into a mass execution site. According to witnesses, civilians were killed in groups and buried in deep pits.

The findings have drawn the attention of international organizations, who are calling for stronger investigations into human rights abuses. Many predict that many more mass graves will be discovered after the fall of the Baath regime.

These developments in Syria are new examples of systematic human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law. These events demand swift and decisive action by the international community.