A newly released investigative report has shed unprecedented light on the 2014 Al-Shaitat massacre, one of the worst atrocities committed by ISIS during its expansion in Syria. The report, published by the “ISIS Prisons Museum,” meticulously documents how the extremist group executed at least 814 people from the Al-Shaitat tribe in Deir ez-Zor countryside. Through interviews, evidence from mass graves, and advanced 3D reconstructions, the study offers the most comprehensive account yet of the massacre’s scale and brutality.
The report, prepared by researchers Sacha Alaa and Ayman Alao, draws on six months of fieldwork, including dozens of interviews with survivors, relatives of victims, and local elders. It reconstructs the massacre day-by-day, aligning witness testimonies with satellite imagery and data from discovered mass grave sites. It also presents 3D virtual tours of former detention centers where executions and torture occurred, using architectural modeling based on survivor accounts.
Classified as the second deadliest massacre in modern Syrian history—after the 2013 chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta—the Al-Shaitat killings marked ISIS’s most violent campaign against a single community. Victims were subjected to arbitrary detention, public executions, and home invasions. Twenty mass grave locations and 19 recorded testimonies, including women’s voices, are included in the file.
Amer Matar, director of the ISIS Prisons Museum, emphasized that the project goes beyond archiving: “We aim to preserve memory, deliver evidence for legal proceedings, and push for justice.” The study was developed in collaboration with the Association of Al-Shaitat Victims’ Families.
Researcher Sacha Alaa noted that the massacre had previously lacked thorough documentation, partly due to conflicting reports and scarce survivor accounts. The study hopes to correct the historical record and help push international institutions toward holding perpetrators accountable.
