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Burial sites are springing up across Syria following the overthrow of al-Assad, who is accused of widespread extrajudicial executions.
A mass grave that could contain the remains of up to 100,000 people has been found on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, as the new interim government vows to hold accountable those responsible for atrocities committed under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.
The al-Qutayfah site, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the capital, was one of several mass graves identified across the country following the collapse of the al-Assad family’s decades-long rule.
Twelve mass graves were also discovered in southern Syria. In one place, 22 corpses, including those of women and children, showed signs of execution and torture.
Al-Assad and his father Hafez, who preceded him as president and died in 2000, are accused of killing hundreds of thousands of people through extrajudicial executions, including in the country’s notorious prison system.
Ugur Umit Ungor, professor of genocide studies at the University of Amsterdam, told Al Jazeera that the discovery of the “centralized mass grave” in Al-Qutayfah was “a reflection of the Assad regime’s killing machine.”
“The true scale of how many mass graves exist can only be found in the Assad regime’s archives, so it is absolutely crucial that they are handled professionally and that people do not loot them,” he said.
Ungor said creating a DNA repository of families whose relatives are missing would help link the remains to a name, giving closure to those still searching for their loved ones.
The professor was among a handful of academics who received videos and other evidence from anonymous sources as part of a year-long investigation into the burial sites.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Vall, reporting from Qatana, said Mouaz Moustafa, head of the US-based Syrian defense organization Syrian Emergency Task Force, estimated that the number of bodies at the site could exceed 100,000.
Vall said Syrian air force intelligence was believed to be in charge of moving the bodies from hospitals – where they were collected after being murdered in prison – and taking them to mass graves.
“These mass graves keep the secrets of 54 years of despotism, torture and dictatorship,” Vall said. “This is just the beginning.”
Last week, Human Rights Watch visited the Tadamon neighborhood in southern Damascus, where it found human remains that showed signs consistent with executions. The New York-based organization called on Syrian transitional authorities to preserve physical evidence throughout the country.
The commander-in-chief of the new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, told Al Jazeera that those who committed crimes against the Syrian people or actively helped al-Assad commit those crimes would be brought to justice.
“We will not give up on delivering the justice our people expect and we will not allow the atrocities committed against our people to be forgotten,” said al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani.
He added that “we are gathering and compiling evidence” and called on the United Nations and other international institutions to help document the crimes committed by the regime.
On Monday, al-Assad issued his first statement since he was overthrown, saying he fled Syria for Russia only after the fall of Damascus, and denouncing the country’s new leaders as “terrorists.”
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) of Al-Sharaa is listed as a “terrorist” group by many governments. He has tried to calm fears, guaranteeing protection for minorities, security and a peaceful political transition.
