Syrian Regime Secretly Moved Mass Grave to Hide Evidence of Killings, Reuters Investigation Finds

Syrian Regime Secretly Moved Mass Grave to Hide Evidence of Killings, Reuters Investigation Finds
———————————–
A Reuters investigation has concluded that the former Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad ran a clandestine two-year operation to exhume and secretly relocate tens of thousands of bodies from one of the country’s largest known mass graves.

The operation, which took place between 2019 and 2021, involved moving bodies from the grave site in al-Qutayfah and reburying them at an undisclosed location in the desert east of Damascus. The goal of the massive cover-up, according to the investigation, was to systematically hide evidence of mass killings committed during the Syrian civil war, particularly as the Assad government attempted to regain international standing.

The report details how the regime utilized a “machinery of death” that war crimes prosecutors estimate was responsible for the torture and murder of over 100,000 people since 2013. The removal of the remains underscores the systematic efforts by the former government to destroy proof of human rights violations.