December 17 ,2024
A Syrian advocacy group leader claimed that a mass grave near Damascus contains the remains of at least 100,000 people killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Mouaz Moustafa, head of the U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, told Reuters by phone from Damascus that the site at al-Qutayfah, located 25 miles (40 km) north of the Syrian capital, is one of five mass graves he has identified over the years.
โOne hundred thousand is the most conservative estimate,โ Moustafa stated, calling the figure โextremely conservative.โ He added that victims likely include Syrians as well as U.S., British, and other foreign nationals.
Reuters has not independently verified the claims.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since Syriaโs civil war began in 2011 after Assadโs crackdown on protests escalated into armed conflict. Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad, have been accused by rights groups and foreign governments of conducting mass executions and extrajudicial killings, including within Syriaโs notorious prison system.
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