Syria’s Disappeared: Uncovering Graves and Torture Sites After Assad’s Fall

Adra features an unusual local burial ground, marked by two solitary graves within a vast, uneven, and sparsely grass-covered area. For an extended period, this particular location remained under the strict command of President Bashar al-Assad’s military units. Currently, seven days following their departure, a concrete cover in a section of this deserted cemetery has been displaced, uncovering a shallow burial site holding a minimum of six white bags, each marked with names and inmate identification numbers. Upon our arrival, Khaled al Hamad, a resident from the vicinity, was urgently extracting the bags. He presented the three bags he had already unsealed. Inside each were human skulls and skeletal remains. Inscriptions on the bags indicated these were the remains of two female and one male prisoner. The cause of death for these individuals remains unknown, as does whether this discovery constitutes proof of criminal mistreatment by Assad’s administration. However, Khaled requires no persuasion. He is seeking his two siblings, Jihad and Hussein, who were apprehended by Assad’s infamous air force intelligence ten years prior and have not been heard from since. He stated, “Some people were taken to an area called ‘the driving school’ and liquidated there.” He added, “I expect this happened to my brothers. Maybe they are in some of these bags buried here.” This information was conveyed to Human Rights Watch in Syria, which reported that it was looking into accounts of prisoner remains disposed of in comparable bags in other locations. The collapse of Assad’s rule has generated immense hope among families who, for decades, had no means of discovering the fate of their relatives. Khaled recounted, “If you ever came past here [in Assad’s time], you couldn’t stop, you couldn’t look up.” He continued, “Cars used to speed past. If you stopped, they would come to you, put a plastic bag on your head and take you away.” Currently, tens of thousands of families, similar to his, are actively seeking relatives who vanished within Assad’s infamous penal system or its military interrogation facilities. A number of individuals were transported to the Mazzeh military airbase situated in Damascus. This location, formerly a crucial demarcation point between Assad’s forces and rebel groups, now stands empty. Abandoned military footwear is scattered across the airstrip, a live rocket rests on the ground, and the sole indicators of presence are the recently appointed guards at the entrance: youthful militiamen belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the organization that assumed authority in Syria during the previous week. They guided us to the torture chamber employed by Assad’s military personnel, which contained a metal bar for restraining prisoners’ feet during beatings, and a collection of wires positioned beside an electrical control panel. Abu Jarrah, the commander of the guards, informed me, “Here they electrocuted prisoners.” He elaborated, “These are electric cables – the investigator sits here, the guards put them on the prisoner’s body and turn on the power. The prisoner loses his mind and confesses everything. They tell the interrogator to write whatever he wants, in the hope it will stop.” Abu Jarrah further stated that the 400 female detainees at this site were regularly subjected to rape, and that births occurred within the prison. The anguish of discovering a parent or child among the documented records here is surpassed only by the pain of failing to locate them entirely. Adjacent to this building, families frantically sift through small photographs strewn in heaps across the concrete floor – countless faces appearing grim and expressionless, serving as silent testaments to the duration of Assad’s governance. Among those present, the mother of Mahmoud Saed Hussein, a Kurd originating from al-Qamishli, was weeping. She recounted, “Yesterday, we saw he was registered at the airbase prison.” She continued, “We came but couldn’t find him. I’ve been looking for him for 11 years, searching from one prison to another.” Weeping, she gestured towards the stacks of photographs on the floor and declared, “These are all like my son.” She added, “May God burn Assad’s heart, as he has burned ours.” Beyond this area, three rooms, filled to capacity with documents, connect sequentially. Multiple individuals are stooping over a mound of papers, several feet deep, that covers the entire floor. Assad’s administration meticulously recorded its acts of cruelty, establishing an extensive system of terror that clearly reveals the magnitude of its operations, yet frequently obscures or buries the narratives of individual victims. One woman angrily questioned, “What are these notes?” She then stated, “Nobody is helping us. We want someone to come and check these documents with us. How can I find him among this many prison files?” The absence of an organized framework results in the daily loss of crucial evidence at various locations throughout Syria – this includes data concerning missing persons, and potentially, any connections between Assad’s government and international powers such as the US or the UK, both of which have faced allegations of profiting from the American practice of extraordinary rendition, where individuals suspected of terrorism were dispatched for questioning to nations known to employ torture. Organizations advocating for human rights have charged the UK government with disregarding the US procedure during the period known as the war on terror, when the United States transferred detainees to multiple Middle Eastern nations, Syria among them. Outdoors, the quiet aircraft hangars of the airbase are interspersed with the burnt wreckage of Russian-manufactured aircraft and radar equipment, damaged by successive Israeli aerial attacks during the preceding week. Assad’s exit has altered the precarious power dynamics among opposing factions in Syria, and their diverse international supporters, such as Turkey, Iran, and the US. This conflict was never solely confined to Syria, and external powers continue to hold an interest in the developments occurring within the country. Syrians are resolute in their conviction that the moment has arrived for them to govern themselves, free from external directives. Upon our departure, a young HTS combatant ascended a rooftop to deface a portrait of Assad displayed above the interrogation facility. He smiled down at his fellow fighters observing from below, while photographs and papers from the regime’s military records drifted around their feet. The collapse of Assad’s rule has introduced unresolved inquiries regarding Syria’s future, yet it has also left numerous historical questions without answers. Further reporting was contributed by Charlotte Scarr and Mayar Mohanna. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.