100,000 bodies in Assad’s mass grave

Last Updated on December 19, 2024 6:19 am

A mass grave on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus contains the bodies of at least 100,000 people. These people were killed during the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

The US-based Syrian Emergency Task Force is claiming this. This information was reported by Al-Jazeera on Tuesday.

In an interview with the news agency Reuters on Monday, the head of the monitoring organization, Mouaz Mustafa, spoke about the mass grave. However, Reuters could not independently verify the veracity of the head of the monitoring organization’s claim.

In a telephone interview from Damascus, Mouaz Mustafa said that the mass grave called Al-Qutayfah is located 25 miles or about 40 kilometers north of the capital Damascus. He said that it is one of five mass graves he has discovered in Syria in the past few years.

He said that at least 100,000 people were buried here. Even if we calculate it very conservatively, the number would be like this. Mustafa believes that there are many more mass graves in Syria besides these five. In these mass graves, there are not only Syrian citizens who were tortured during Assad’s rule, but also various foreigners, including Americans and Britons.

In 2011, widespread protests broke out in Syria against Bashar al-Assad. There are allegations of repression against Assad to suppress the protests. It is believed that several hundred thousand people have been killed by Bashar’s forces during the civil war that has been going on in Syria for the last 13 years. However, Bashar al-Assad has always denied the allegations of human rights violations brought against his government and labeling the opposition as extremists.

Mustafa fled to Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and his escape to Russia. He gave an interview to the UK’s Channel Four News while standing at the Al Qutayfah mass grave. Later, he spoke to a Reuters journalist from there.

Mustafa said that the bodies of those who died as a result of torture at the hands of Bashar al-Assad’s intelligence forces were collected in military hospitals. Later, after all the procedures, those bodies were taken to mass graves. The responsibility for this work was in the hands of the Syrian Air Force.

He also said, “We were able to talk to some people who worked directly in these mass graves. Later, they either fled Syria themselves, or we helped them escape.” Mustafa expressed concern that these mass graves, which are important for proving Bashar al-Assad’s human rights violations, are left unprotected.

He said that their protection must be ensured to preserve evidence for the sake of investigation.

It is worth noting that on December 8, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and some other rebel groups took control of the Syrian capital Damascus in just 12 days. In the resulting situation, President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for 24 years, left the country by plane and took refuge in Russia. Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria for 29 years.

Bashar al-Assad became president after his father’s death in 2000. He also ruled for 24 years. Bashar is accused of gross human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and torture in mysterious prisons.