Investigation Launched into Mass Grave in Syria Linked to Assad Regime

SadaNews - The Syrian government has instructed the military to guard a mass grave that was dug to conceal atrocities committed during the regime of the ousted Bashar al-Assad, and has opened a criminal investigation following a report that revealed a conspiracy carried out by the former regime, kept secret for years to hide thousands of bodies in a remote desert location.

A former Syrian army officer familiar with the operation stated that the site in the Deir al-Zor desert, east of Damascus, served as an arms depot during Assad's rule. It was subsequently evacuated of personnel in 2018 to ensure the secrecy of the conspiracy, which involved exhuming the bodies of thousands of victims buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus and transporting them by truck to a site an hour's drive away in Deir al-Zor.

The operation planned by Assad's inner circle was dubbed "Operation Soil Transport." Soldiers re-deployed to the Deir al-Zor site, but this time under orders from the government that overthrew the regime.

A military officer stationed in Deir al-Zor earlier this month and military official Sheikh Abu Omar Tawq, the security chief in the area, stated that the Deir al-Zor military facility has also resumed operations as a barracks and arms depot in November after being abandoned for seven years.

The Deir al-Zor site was unguarded over the summer when journalists from "Reuters" made repeated visits after discovering a mass grave there.

A soldier at the site in mid-December said the new government has established a checkpoint at the entrance of the military facility housing the site after weeks of "Reuters" publishing the report in October. Those wishing to visit the site now need entry permits from the Ministry of Defense.

Satellite images since late November show renewed vehicle activity around the main base area.

The military official, who requested anonymity, stated that the recommissioning of the military base came as part of efforts to secure control of the country and prevent any "hostile" parties from exploiting that strategic open area. The road cutting through the desert connects one of ISIS's remaining territories in Syria to the capital, Damascus.

Police Investigation

Ghaleb Tabash, the head of the Deir al-Zor police station, said in November that police opened an investigation into the grave, taking photos of the site, conducting land surveys, and interviewing witnesses. Among those interviewed by the police was Ahmad Ghazal, who was a key source for the investigation that uncovered the mass grave.

Ghazal, a mechanic who repaired trucks and took part in restoring vehicles that transported the remains and bodies to the site, confirmed that he provided the police with all the details he mentioned about the operation and what he witnessed over the years. Ghazal noted that the military facility during the "Operation Soil Transport" appeared empty, except for the soldiers accompanying the vehicles entering the site for that purpose.

The National Missing Persons Authority, established after the ousting of Assad to investigate the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians missing under his rule, said it is conducting training operations for individuals and establishing laboratories to meet international standards for excavating mass graves. The Authority added that operations to excavate and exhume remains from several mass grave sites from Assad's era are scheduled to begin in 2027.

The police referred their report concerning the Deir al-Zor site to Judge Zaman Abdullah, the attorney general in the Adra region. Abdullah stated that a review and audit of documents obtained by security agencies after Assad's fall in December 2024 is ongoing to gather information about suspects involved in the Deir al-Zor operation from Assad's era inside and outside Syria. However, he refrained from describing the suspects, attributing that to the ongoing investigation.

Military documents and testimonies from civilian and military sources show that the main handler of the logistics for the "Operation Soil Transport" was Colonel Mazen Ismandar. When contacted through an intermediary, Ismandar declined to comment on the initial "Reuters" report and the latest investigation into the mass grave.

In 2018, Assad was on the verge of achieving complete victory in the conflict and hoped to regain legitimacy in the international community after years of sanctions and accusations of brutality. He was also accused of arresting and killing thousands of Syrians. At that time, local rights activists reported a mass grave site in Qatifa on the outskirts of Damascus.

Therefore, an order from the presidential palace was issued to exhume Qatifa and conceal the bones and bodies in a military facility in the Deir al-Zor desert.

"Reuters" concluded that Ismandar supervised the operation, which was carried out four nights a week for nearly two years from 2019 until 2021. Trucks transported the corpses, soil, and remains from the unveiled mass grave to the abandoned military facility in the desert, filling pits and trenches with bodies and remains concurrently with the digging at the Qatifa site.

To uncover this conspiracy, the agency spoke with 13 individuals who had direct knowledge of the operation over two years and analyzed over 500 images taken by satellites of the two sites. Under the supervision of experts in forensic geology, "Reuters" used drone imagery to create high-resolution composite images that helped confirm the transport of bodies by showing changes in soil color and excavation around trenches and burial pits at the Deir al-Zor site.