Mass graves near Damascus emerging with hundreds of thousands believed to be buried

Rights groups have called for the preservation of evidence at sites of crimes committed by Assad regime

Members of the White Helmets lift bags containing human remains from a mass grave in Damascus. AFP

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Mass graves have begun to surface near Damascus following the fall of the Syrian regime, as field civil defence crews and NGOs initiate excavations in areas believed to hold the remains of hundreds of thousands of people.

On Tuesday, The National saw civil defence crews pull the remains of seven bodies from the ground of what was previously a secure zone in the town of Adra in the Damascus countryside. As with discoveries at other grave sites, the remains were found in canvas bags typically used to store dry goods like flour and lentils. Six of the seven sets of remains found were identified with names and corresponding numbers.

Hours before that, Mouaz Moustafa, who leads the Washington-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, told Reuters that the site at Al Qutayfah, 40km north of the Syrian capital, was one of five mass graves that he had identified over the years. “One hundred thousand is the most conservative estimate” of the number of bodies buried at the site, said Mr Moustafa.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are estimated to have been killed since 2011, when forces loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar Al Assad turned protests against his rule into a full-scale civil war. About 150,000 people remain unaccounted for as a result of the civil war, according to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).

The mass search for missing people began after Mr Al Assad was removed from power more than a week ago. With a change of government under way, many Syrians are desperately trying to find out what happened to loved ones who were detained by Syrian security forces and held in the regime's notorious prisons.

A satellite image shows what a US advocacy group says is a mass grave in Al Qutayfah, Syria. Reuters

But the logistical challenges are enormous. Only 100 out of 3,000 White Helmets Civil Defence crews are operating on the ground in Damascus, and only 10 of those can respond to reports of bodies in mass-grave sites for the time being. The remaining 90 crews are conducting emergency response. They are still finding bodies in prisons, security branches, and military hospitals.

"This is a very rapid response because we were based in northern Syria. But now we’ve [had to] restructure ourselves to respond in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Damascus and other areas,” Abdelrahman Al Mawwas, the evidence collecting and archiving manager of the White Helmets, told The National in Adra.

“We’ve responded to 508 unidentified dead bodies,” found in the Syrian regime’s notorious detention centres and military hospitals," he added. In one of the most notorious prisons of the Assad regime, Sednaya prison, also known as “the human slaughterhouse”, about 4,300 prisoners were reportedly freed after rebel fighters took over the area, according to documentation from the Syrian Civil Defence.

Experts have warned of the need to protect evidence and preserve crime scenes, including mass graves, to ensure accountability and justice. On Monday, the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry urged Syria’s caretaker government to protect arrest and detention files where they were discovered, ensuring their preservation for future justice processes.

People stand next to a trench on the outskirts of Damascus believed to have been used as a mass grave. AFP

The area in Adra where the bodies were found on Tuesday used to be a military zone and civilians were not allowed to go there. A resident of the town, Khaled Saleh Al Hamad, said security forces would previously snipe at anyone who approached the security area.

The National found evidence of further bodies buried in the Adra site shortly after civil defence crews left, with a strong smell emanating from a grave covered by a square cement block. Mr Mawwas estimated that search crews were likely to be excavating mass graves and uncovering bodies for years to come, but that given their current capacity in the wake of the sudden overthrow of the Syrian regime, making significant progress will be a major challenge.

“It’s really difficult to move vehicles and personnel [from place to place], so we are trying to do our best,” he said. He called on international organisations to provide support as they begin the work of exhuming the mass graves.

“We didn't receive any offers of help [yet],” he added. “As you see it’s been over 10 days [since the fall of the Assad regime] and journalists like you can come and work here. I don't know what the international organisations are waiting for."