Syrian mass grave near Damascus allegedly holds 100,000 victims

The head of a US-based Syrian advocacy organisation stated on Monday that a mass grave near Damascus contained the remains of at least 100,000 individuals allegedly killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking to Reuters via telephone from Damascus, Mouaz Moustafa, leader of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, identified the site at Al-Qutayfah, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of the Syrian capital, as one of five mass graves he had located over several years.

Moustafa described the figure of 100,000 bodies as “a very, very extremely, almost unfairly conservative estimate.”

Moustafa asserted that more mass graves likely exist beyond the five known sites, claiming that the victims included not only Syrians but also US, British, and other foreign nationals. Reuters, however, was unable to independently verify these claims.

The Syrian conflict, which began in 2011 after Assad’s suppression of anti-government protests escalated into civil war, has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Assad and his late father, Hafez Al-Assad, who ruled before him until his death in 2000, have been accused by Syrian citizens, human rights organisations, and international governments of carrying out widespread extrajudicial killings, including mass executions in the country’s notorious prisons.

Bashar Al-Assad has consistently denied allegations of human rights abuses, characterising his critics as extremists.

Syria’s UN Ambassador, Koussay Aldahhak, who assumed the position in January before Assad’s downfall, did not immediately comment but recently stated he was awaiting instructions from the new authorities while pledging to continue defending the Syrian people.

Moustafa entered Syria after Assad fled to Russia and his government collapsed following a rapid rebel offensive, which ended the Assad family’s more than five-decade-long authoritarian rule. Moustafa spoke to Reuters following an interview at the Al-Qutayfah site with Britain’s Channel 4 News, which was preparing a report on the alleged mass grave.

According to Moustafa, the Syrian Air Force intelligence branch managed the transfer of bodies from military hospitals — where many detainees had allegedly been tortured to death — to intelligence facilities before transporting them to mass grave locations. He added that the Damascus municipal funeral office was also involved, with workers unloading the corpses from refrigerated lorries.

Moustafa explained that his organisation had spoken to individuals involved in the process, including bulldozer operators forced to dig the graves, sometimes instructed to compact the bodies to fit them into the space before covering them with earth. Some of these individuals either escaped Syria on their own or were assisted in fleeing by his group.

Expressing concern about the lack of security at the grave sites, Moustafa emphasised the importance of preserving the locations to protect evidence for future investigations.