US-Based Advocate Claims Syrian Mass Grave Holds 100,000 Bodies
A US-based Syrian advocacy leader claimed on Monday that a mass grave near Damascus holds the remains of at least 100,000 people, attributing the deaths to the government of former Syrian President Bashar Assad. Mouaz Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, described to Reuters the site in Al Qutayfah, located 25 miles north of the capital, as one of five mass graves he has documented over the years.
Moustafa said 100,000 was “a very, very extremely almost unfairly conservative estimate,” though his claim could not be independently verified. He added that the victims include Syrians as well as US, UK, and other foreign nationals.
Mass graves have been previously uncovered in Syria throughout its 13-year conflict. Human rights organizations accuse Assad’s government of conducting mass executions and extrajudicial killings, particularly in notorious detention centers like Sednayah prison.
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Thousands of Syrians have been released from prison following Bashar Assad’s fall, but tens of thousands remain missing, with many presumed dead. Families continue their agonizing searches for loved ones, only to find despair and evidence of yearslong atrocities.
For further details on the heartbreaking discoveries in Syria and the families left behind, read Rizik Alabi’s full report, available on The Media Line.
The Syrian Civil War erupted in 2011 after Assad’s forces violently suppressed anti-government protests during the Arab Spring uprisings. The conflict escalated into a prolonged war involving regional and international powers. The UN estimates hundreds of thousands have died, with millions displaced both internally and abroad.
Both Bashar Assad and his father, Hafez Assad, who ruled until his death in 2000, have long faced accusations of severe human rights abuses. Assad has denied the allegations, repeatedly framing his critics as extremists.
