Around 20 bodies found in Damascus countryside as search for mass graves in Syria widens

Residents discovered bags dumped by road near deserted fairground were full of bones and remains

The remains of around 20 bodies found dumped in the Aqraba district of south-eastern Syria were collected by civil defence teams on Monday, as medics continue working to uncover mass graves across the country that have been found in the wake of the removal of the dictator Bashar Al Assad.

The remains were discovered inside canvas bags – typically used to hold rice and other dry goods – by local workers near the Fifth Bridge area of rural Damascus three days ago, medics and residents told The National, as crews worked to transport the bodies into body bags. Many of the bags “contained small, blackened bones”, civil defence board member Ammar Selma told The National. Entry to the area was previously restricted by Syrian regime security forces.

“We documented around 20 bodies, but it could be more because sometimes in one bag, there are two or three skeletons of different bodies,” he added.

He said crews were working to transport the bodies – possibly belonging to pro-government militias – to a burial site, but that they would be inspected for any traits or markers such as teeth for future identification. Locals said they had watched two cars pull into a turn-off road near an abandoned fairground. The occupants dumped the canvas bags, which were found shortly afterwards, on Friday.

“At first we thought they were dumping trash. But the next morning my workers called me over and we saw the bags contained bones and body remnants,” said Radwan Bweydani, the owner of a nearby theme park. Decaying flesh clung to bone remnants as civil defence crews sifted through the bodies.

The smell of death permeated the air. Some bags were found with cards carrying numbers and nationalities corresponding to the remains – but no names. Most of the bodies were found wearing military fatigues, The National observed, while some of the bags were accompanied by forms containing writing in Farsi, according to Mr Selma.

Thought to be among the bodies were also people of Syrian nationality. One was labelled: “Syrian security."

A member of the Syrian civil defence group the White Helmets stands on a truck next to bodies found at the site near Damascus. EPA

It was not immediately clear who dumped the bags of bodies near the fairground, why, or how old the remains are. The Fifth Bridge area was a highly militarised and security zone throughout Syria’s 14-year civil war, in which numerous foreign proxies fought to support various warring Syrian groups. In addition to the Syrian military, Iran-backed pro-government militias had a presence in the area, according to residents.

“We don’t know the story. Of course, someone took them out of a grave and threw them here. Why they were taken out of the grave, we don’t know. Where they were previously, we don’t know,” Mr Selma said. Residents and Mr Selma raised the possibility that it could have been an attempt by pro-government militia members to discard evidence of their operations after Syrian rebels swept into Damascus on December 8.

Around 150,000 people remain unaccounted for as a result of the civil war, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). As a change of government takes hold over the country for the first time in 54 years, many are now looking to find out what happened to loved ones who were detained by Syrian security forces and affiliates loyal to Mr Al Assad and held in the regime’s notorious prisons.

A mass search for missing people began following Mr Al Assad’s overthrow, with search crews and thousands of relatives pouring through the once-secretive prisons, security branches, and military hospitals across the country for any clues on where loved ones could be held or buried.

In the notorious Sednaya prison, also known as “the human slaughterhouse”, around 4,300 prisoners were reportedly freed when rebel forces swept into the area, according to documentation found by Syrian Civil Defence. As hopes fade that the remaining thousands of missing could still be alive, numerous search crews have begun to slowly uncover mass graves dispersed throughout the country.

“It’s important for Syria’s future to know the fate of missing persons,” Mr Selma said. “Their families are still waiting for them.”