ISTANBUL 

A new mass grave was discovered Monday in al-Qadam, a southern neighborhood of the Syrian capital Damascus, local media reported.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, efforts are underway to uncover the entirety of the mass grave after human bone fragments were found in the area.

Last Thursday, another mass grave was found in the al-Otayba area near Damascus, from which specialized Syrian teams exhumed the remains of 175 bodies believed to belong to fighters opposed to the now-defunct Bashar al-Assad regime.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia last December, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963. A new transitional administration led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa was formed in January.