The Syrian government is imposing strict security measures on a mass grave that was created to conceal horrific crimes committed during the rule of former President “Bashar al-Assad.”
Reliable sources revealed that the Syrian authorities have begun a criminal investigation, after Reuters published a report exposing a secret plan that lasted for many years implemented by the former regime to hide thousands of bodies in a mass grave located in the al-Dameer desert, east of Damascus, a site that was previously used as a military weapons depot, according to the assurances of a former officer in the Syrian army who was aware of the details of the operation.
In 2018, the site was cleared of weapons to implement a secret plan called “Operation Soil Transfer,” which included extracting the remains of thousands of victims buried in a mass grave in the suburbs of Damascus and transporting them by trucks to the al-Dameer area, about an hour away.
Today, a large number of soldiers are deployed at the al-Dameer site, but this time under orders from the government that overthrew al-Assad.
The military facility in al-Dameer was also reactivated to be a headquarters, barracks, and weapons depot in November, after a seven-year hiatus, according to an officer stationed there, a military official, and Sheikh “Abu Omar Tawaq,” the head of al-Dameer security.
It is worth noting that the site remained without any protection during the summer, when Reuters journalists visited the place several times after the discovery of the mass grave.
Within weeks, the government set up a checkpoint at the entrance to the military facility that houses the site, according to a soldier stationed there, and visitors now need to obtain entry permits from the Ministry of Defense.
In addition, satellite images, since late November, have shown new vehicle activity around the main area of the base.
A military official, who requested anonymity, said that the reactivation of the base comes within the framework of efforts to “secure control over the country and prevent hostile parties from exploiting this open strategic area,” noting that the road through the desert connects one of the last strongholds of ISIS in Syria to Damascus.
In November, the police opened an investigation into the cemetery, photographing it, conducting ground surveys, and questioning witnesses, according to “Jalal Tabbash,” the head of the al-Dameer police station.
Among those questioned was “Ahmed Ghazal,” the main source who revealed the existence of the mass grave.
“Ghazal,” a mechanic who was repairing the trucks that broke down while transporting the bodies to the al-Dameer site, said: “I told them all the details and what I witnessed during those years.”
He confirmed that the military facility looked almost empty, except for the soldiers who were accompanying the convoys during the body transfer period.
For its part, the National Committee for the Missing, which was established after the overthrow of al-Assad to investigate the fate of tens of thousands of Syrians who disappeared during his reign, confirmed that it is working to train cadres and establish laboratories that adhere to international standards for mass grave extraction operations.
The exhumation of bodies from mass graves dating back to the era of al-Assad, including the al-Dameer site, is scheduled to begin in 2027.
It is reported that, according to military documents and testimonies from civilian and military sources, Colonel “Mazen Ismender” took over the logistics management of the “Body Transfer Operation.”
When the plan was put in place in 2018, al-Assad was on the verge of victory in the civil war, and he hoped to restore legitimacy before the international community after years of sanctions and accusations of brutality.
According to the testimonies, an order was issued from the Presidential Palace stating: “Dig up the al-Qutayfah site and hide the bodies in the military facility in the al-Dameer desert.”
For four nights a week, and for nearly two years between 2019 and 2021, “Ismender” supervised the operation, according to Reuters, as trucks transported bodies and dirt from the open cemetery to the abandoned military facility in the desert, while the trenches were filled with bodies during the digging of the al-Qutayfah site.
