“The operator of the bulldozer excavator recounted how intelligence officials coerced laborers to utilize the bulldozer in order to flatten and compress bodies, facilitating their burial before proceeding to excavate the next line or trench,” shared Moustafa.
Incidents came to light on Monday regarding the discovery of over 20 bodies in a mass grave situated to the north of Izraa in the Daraa governorate of southern Syria. Videos released by the Agence France-Presse depicted individuals digging and retrieving bones from the soil. In another clip, two rows of shrouded bodies were shown lying on the ground, with a bulldozer delicately attempting to unearth the top layer of soil.
According to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), approximately 150,000 individuals in Syria remain unaccounted for, most of whom were either abducted or detained by the Assad regime or its associates. CNN has not been able to independently verify this figure.
In 2020, an individual known as “the Gravedigger” testified in a German court that he had been recruited by the Assad regime to bury hundreds of bodies in mass graves, as reported by the ICMP. The bodies belonged to Syrians who had been held in various detention centers, as stated by the witness during the trial of former Syrian intelligence officers. The witness revealed that he, alongside others, would accompany multiple trucks transporting anywhere between 300 to 700 corpses to mass graves in Qatayfah to the north of Damascus and al-Najha to the south, four times a week. These bodies could only be identified by numbers etched onto their chests or foreheads and exhibited severe indications of torture and mutilation, according to the ICMP.
Moustafa from SETF acknowledged the presence of at least eight mass grave sites in Syria and called upon international experts to assist in the process of exhuming and identifying the bodies.
At a mass grave site outside Damascus, members of Syria’s White Helmets civil defense were working on uncovering remains believed to be those of civilians who were victims of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the United Nations’ special envoy to Syria, stressed the importance of securing documentation related to detention sites and mass graves to facilitate families in their quest for justice and accountability. She emphasized the necessity of prioritizing the identification of missing persons and ensuring that families receive the clarity and recognition they seek.
Hazem Dakel, hailing from Idlib and now residing in Sweden, shared the heartbreaking story of his family’s losses. His uncle Najeeb was arrested in 2012, and the family later received confirmation of his demise. His brother Amer was detained the following year and, according to former detainees at the notorious Saydnaya prison near Damascus, disappeared in mid-April 2015 after enduring torture. Despite this, the regime never acknowledged Amer’s death. Dakel expressed certainty that Amer had died due to torture in Saydnaya, a sentiment.
