DAMASCUS / ISTANBUL

Syrian civil defense teams on Tuesday retrieved the remains of 20 people from a mass grave east of the city of Douma in the Damascus countryside, local media said.

The state-run Al-Ikhbariya channel, citing a civil defense statement, said the remains were found at a site in the Tal al-Sawan area east of Douma.

Most of the remains appear to belong to children and women, it said, adding that investigators were not able to identify the victims.

Civil defense teams found no clothing on the victims, suggesting they were killed while unclothed, the statement said.

The Civil Defense noted that the National Commission for Missing Persons, a government body, is leading on-site efforts in coordination with the Interior Ministry and forensic medicine authorities, the outlet said.

Since the removal of the Bashar al‑Assad regime in December 2024, numerous mass burial sites have been uncovered across Syria, the largest of which was near Damascus.

Syrian citizens say the fall of Assad’s regime marked the end of a decades-long era of fear, with its prisons having become nightmares of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.

The newly established Syrian government has repeatedly stated that holding accountable those responsible for crimes under the previous regime will remain a priority.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly in September, President Ahmad al‑Sharaa pledged to deliver “justice from every person whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents.”

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. Sharaa’s new transitional administration was formed in January.