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Syria secures Assad-era mass grave revealed by Reuters and opens criminal investigation
The new government ordered a criminal probe and deployed soldiers to guard the Dhumair mass grave, exposing a secret Assad-era scheme to hide thousands of victims, Reuters reported.
- 12/29/2025, Syria's government ordered troops to guard a remote desert mass grave at the Dhumair military installation east of Damascus and opened a criminal investigation.
- Concealment efforts began in 2018 when Operation Move Earth, run by Assad's inner circle, moved bodies from Qutayfah to the vacated Dhumair site, a former weapons depot, from 2019–2021.
- Reuters found corroboration by interviewing 13 witnesses and analysing more than 500 satellite images, while forensic geologists and drone teams identified disturbed soil around burial trenches.
- Police investigations begun in November show Al‑Dhumair police photographed the site, surveyed land, interviewed witnesses, and referred the report to Adra district attorney Judge Zaman al‑Abdullah while the National Commission for Missing Persons prepares labs for exhumations expected in 2027.
- Prosecutors are now cross‑referencing seized files and names tied to the operation with documents seized after Assad's removal in December 2024, while officials say securing the Al‑Dumayr installation remains a priority as international forensic experts prepare for future consultations.
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8 Articles
8 Articles
Syrian authorities have taken a mass grave created by the Assad regime into military custody and opened criminal proceedings after investigative journalists revealed that the dictatorship had systematically disappeared thousands of victims over the years.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources8
Leaning Left1Leaning Right3Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Right
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Right
50% Right
L 17%
C 33%
R 50%
Factuality
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