Unseen ‘Since the Nazis’: Syrians Uncover Mass Graves and Evidence of Assad Regime’s Atrocities

Latest Developments

• Hundreds of Thousands of Regime Victims Buried in Mass Graves: Human rights organizations are uncovering evidence of mass executions that occurred during the rule of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. On December 16, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes Stephen Rapp, who led the prosecution of war crimes in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, said, “We really haven’t seen anything quite like this since the Nazis.” 
• Hundreds of Thousands of Victims: The Syrian Emergency Task Force — a U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization — reported that one mass grave in Qutayfah, located 25 miles north of Damascus, contained at least 100,000 bodies of people murdered by Assad’s regime. The International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague reported on December 10 that they had received reports of at least 66 mass graves in Syria. The group estimated that 150,000 people were missing due to the regime’s crackdowns during the Syrian civil war from 2011 to 2024.
• Regime’s Notorious Prisons: The Syrian regime ran a network of prisons that were notorious for torture, mass execution, and brutal conditions that caused deaths from disease and starvation. Assad also used chemical and conventional weapons against civilians. Syrian human rights groups estimate that up to 620,000 people, both civilians and combatants on all sides, have been killed throughout the civil war.

FDD Expert Response

“More than 100,000 people were tortured, murdered, and buried in mass graves by Bashar al-Assad and his thugs, who were supported by Tehran and Moscow. Why aren’t the ‘social justice warriors’ at American and European universities protesting? Do they not know about the graves because nothing has popped up about them on these scholars’ iPhones? Or do they know quite well and just don’t give a damn because they can’t blame Israelis, Zionists, or Jews?” — Clifford D. May, Founder & President

“The world cannot say it didn’t know about the mass graves, nor the crematoria. Gravediggers and others who were required to participate in this horror testified before Congress about this, as did ‘Caesar,’ the military defector who was forced to place markings on the bodies of those who were tortured to death. And yet, the world switched the channel, shamefully looked the other way, and ignored what it knew to be true. Assad and his Islamic Republic of Iran enablers must be publicly held to account, or humanity risks it happening again. Regrettably, while Assad has left the country, Syria won’t be safe until those who adhere to his brand of butchery are imprisoned and brought to justice.” — Toby Dershowitz, Managing Director of FDD Action

“The international community must hold the Assad regime to account for its mass murder of the Syrian people, including dozens, if not hundreds, of chemical weapons attacks on innocent men, women, and children in Ghouta, Khan Shaykhun, Douma, and elsewhere. To that end, the United States and its partners must demand that Syria’s new government admit the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the country to ensure the chemical weapons program’s full dismantlement and adequately fund the OPCW’s ongoing mission to assign attribution for past attacks. This will have the added benefit of supporting a badly eroded, international anti-chemical weapons norm.” — Andrea Stricker, Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program Deputy Director and Research Fellow

FDD Background and Analysis

“The day after in Syria,” by Clifford D. May

“Israel does world a service by hitting Assad’s chemical weapons caches,” by Andrea Stricker

“Assad Is Gone: What Happens to Syria Now?” by Hussain Abdul-Hussain