Mass grave discovered near Damascus containing over 100 bodies

A new mass grave holding over 100 bodies was discovered Thursday by Syrian authorities in the Otayba region, southeast of Damascus, a source in the Interior Ministry said, according to local media.

An Al Jazeera correspondent who visited the site on Friday said the bodies were “civilians killed by the former regime's forces” in 2014. They were reportedly killed while fleeing the violence in Eastern Ghouta, which began in 2013 after the rebels' defeat in Damascus in 2012. The footage shows clothing, bones and a skull.

Several media outlets, including Saudi-owned Al-Hadath, reported that the civilians were killed in the “Otayba massacre,” which occurred Feb. 26, 2014, at the hands of Bashar al-Assad's loyalist forces, killing at least 170 people, according to reports.

Since the fall of Assad on Dec. 8, 2024, dozens of mass graves have been uncovered across the country, but most have not yet been excavated. Syria currently lacks the resources and expertise to collect and analyze hundreds of thousands of DNA samples.

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A few days after taking office, interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa pledged to deliver justice to his people and not to “let the atrocities committed fade into oblivion.” He called on the United Nations and international NGOs to assist Damascus. So far, only a few international experts have visited mass grave sites around the Syrian capital to assess needs.

Tens of thousands of families are still without news of their loved ones who disappeared during the Syrian civil war (2011–2024), which killed over 500,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Une nouvelle fosse commune découverte près de Damas renfermant plus de 100 corps