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As 2024 drew to a close, on 29 December the Syrian Civil Defence announced the discovery of four mass graves in the village of al-Qabu in western Homs.

The area, once a stronghold of the Assad regime's National Defence Forces, is infamous for the brutality inflicted on dissenters.

Reports of mass graves are in Syria. However, in the wake of Assad’s ousting, reports of thousands of bodies uncovered in unmarked burial sites have given insight into the scale of violence and repression under his rule, with each revelation deepening the emotional scars of a nation grappling with years of civil war.

A mass grave near Damascus discovered in early December contained the remains of at least 100,000 individuals, reportedly victims of atrocities committed by the former Syrian regime, according to Mouaz Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, who revealed that the site located in al-Qutayfah, roughly 25 miles north of the capital, is one of five mass graves he has documented over the years.

On Monday, a new mass grave containing hundreds of bodies was found in Aleppo, the Ministry of Interior said. The site was found when a local resident alerted authorities to the grave.

Brigadier General Ahmed Latouf, Aleppo's provincial police commander, led an investigation at the site. Efforts to identify the remains are underway, with DNA testing set to confirm the identities of the deceased, the ministry added.

Families who have long awaited news of missing loved ones are especially devastated by the possibility that their relatives might lie among the unidentified remains.

“This is a profoundly sensitive matter for us,” Yasmen Almashan, head of the , told ������. “It suggests that those we’ve been waiting for all these years might be among the dead in these graves.”��

She also emphasised the importance of resolving the fate of the missing, stating that if they are deceased, their remains should be returned to their families for proper burial to honour the sacrifices they made.��

Regime opponents argue that these mass graves are the grim outcome of the Assad family’s systematic machinery of repression, honed over decades to silence dissent.

The late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who came to power in 1970, cemented his rule through a regime of repression and violence. Central to this strategy were the notorious prisons and detention centres operated by the country’s sprawling intelligence apparatus.

When his son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him, the grim architecture of repression . Following the eruption of Syria’s uprising in 2011, these prisons became emblematic of state violence and transformed into slaughterhouses for dissenters.��

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the crackdown since the uprising began in August 2024 has led to the abduction or detention of nearly 158,000 individuals, including over 5,000 children and more than 10,000 women.

Inside these detention sites, detainees were��to relentless abuse. Torture ranged from beatings and humiliation to deprivation of food, water, and sunlight. Many were crammed into overcrowded cells or held in isolation, enduring conditions that pushed the boundaries of human endurance. Many who perished under the regime's brutality are interred in these mass graves.

The unknown scale of mass graves

The precise number of mass graves in Syria remains unclear, though Almashan believes it is staggering. She pointed to several likely sources: large graves on the outskirts of cities, smaller sites in residential neighbourhoods like Damascus’s Tadamon district, and graves near former military checkpoints.

In areas outside regime control, such as Raqqa and Deir az-Zour, graves have been uncovered through survivor testimonies, accounts from defectors, or information provided during reconciliation deals.

Discovering these sites is often a painstaking process. Almashan highlighted the reliance on varied sources, including survivors, documents, and occasional advanced technology.��

“While modern tools like satellite imagery or topographical scanning could aid our efforts, these resources are not currently available to us,” she said.

Ahmed Helmi, director of , a Syrian initiative supporting former detainees, echoed the uncertainty surrounding the scale of the issue.��

“What we’ve documented so far is likely a fraction of what exists,” he said.��Methods of discovery include changes in soil composition, eyewitness accounts, and, in some cases, chance encounters.��“There have even been instances where animals led to the discovery of graves.”

Founded by survivors of arbitrary detention, Taafi works to address the long-term challenges of enforced disappearances. Helmi emphasised that many of the mass graves found were already documented in earlier investigations.

Forensic challenges

The discovery of mass graves has reignited calls from activists and human rights groups to handle the sites with extreme care. These advocates stress the importance of leaving the graves untouched until specialists can properly investigate, preserving evidence for potential justice and accountability processes.

Helmi, who has spent years assisting survivors in reintegration and advocacy, reiterated this plea.

“Despite our warnings, there are still individuals who visit these graves and even open some of them,” he said. “The phenomenon is not new. In northeastern Syria, numerous mass graves were disturbed following the retreat of ISIS, compromising critical evidence.”

The stakes of these discoveries extend beyond individual grief. Each grave holds the potential to shed light on the broader patterns of violence that have marked Syria’s conflict. Preserving these sites is essential not only for the dignity of the dead but also for building a foundation of truth and accountability for the living, he added.

Almashan also emphasised the critical importance of leaving mass graves undisturbed.��

“Tampering with these graves is tampering with the remains of our loved ones,” she explained. “Every set of remains disrupted represents personal and collective loss. The chaotic handling of documents and graves in the past, as seen in Raqqa, led to the destruction of evidence and the loss of rights. This must not be repeated.”

The question remains: how should these graves be addressed to safeguard the dignity of the victims and ensure accountability?��

Helmi proposed a meticulous, interdisciplinary approach. Drawing on examples from Guatemala, he explained that a team comprising forensic scientists, criminologists, and specialists in soil and topography is necessary, not merely grave diggers.

“Excavation requires precision and advanced tools,” Helmi explained. “For example, once the suspected site is identified, the area must be excavated in increasingly delicate phases, starting with large machinery before switching to smaller tools as workers approach the remains. Every object uncovered, be it a piece of fabric, a bullet, or a handcuff, is a potential piece of evidence, essential for prosecuting perpetrators and identifying the victims.”

He also stressed the importance of preserving the integrity of remains, warning against mixing bones from different bodies. With expert care, he noted, specialists can reconstruct skeletal remains, identifying individuals without resorting to costly DNA testing, which should be a last resort.

A long and costly process

When asked about the timeline for opening these graves, Helmi acknowledged that the process is neither quick nor inexpensive.��

“It’s a long undertaking that will take years, involving collaboration with international organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Independent Commission on Missing Persons,” he told ������. The role of these bodies, he added, would be to coordinate efforts among all parties working on the issue.

Almashan echoed the sentiment, describing the endeavour as lengthy and intricate. The process begins with a preliminary investigation to collect available information about the victims, such as witness testimonies, photographs, videos, personal belongings, and biological data for genetic analysis. Families of the missing play a pivotal role, not only by contributing information but also by providing genealogical data and DNA samples to help identify the remains.

She added that the next stage involves a thorough analysis of burial sites, combining expertise from diverse fields: archaeology, forensic anthropology, physical anthropology, dentistry, radiology, genetics, and criminology.

However, Almashan noted that such specialised knowledge is currently absent from local Syrian teams, necessitating the involvement of international organisations under the supervision of the .

Almashan was firm in her belief that excavation should only proceed under a legitimate, democratically elected Syrian government and with international oversight. She cited past failures as cautionary tales, such as the unprofessional handling of graves in Raqqa, where remains were haphazardly exhumed.��

“Only about two percent of the victims were identified,” she said, adding that improperly stored samples now risk permanent loss, undermining any chance of accountability.

“Until Syria is ready to undertake this challenging task with the necessary expertise and political legitimacy, the wounds inflicted by these discoveries will remain raw,” she added.

This article is published in collaboration with .