Isam Aliad, a former construction company owner from Syria, shares a harrowing account of the war crimes he witnessed under Bashar Assad’s regime, specifically detailing the state-sanctioned mass burials of tortured prisoners.

Aliad describes how his machinery was used by Assad’s security agencies to bury the bodies of those killed in detention, revealing a disturbing pattern of systematic violence against civilians.

At a site once used as a regime military base in northern Damascus, Aliad recounts seeing refrigerated trucks that would regularly dump the bodies of prisoners into mass graves. For years, families waited for answers about their missing loved ones—many of whom had been arrested in arbitrary and unlawful detentions, silencing dissent during the early days of the uprising.

In addition to Aliad’s testimony, the town cemetery near the former base holds grim evidence of this violence. The graves, which contain the bodies of unidentified individuals—likely victims of the regime’s crackdown—offer no names or markers, only the memories of the graveyard keeper and a few surviving witnesses. These graves tell a story of innocent civilians, many of whom were caught up in protests against the regime.

Rights organizations estimate that at least 100,000 Syrians remain unaccounted for, a stark reminder of the regime’s brutal tactics to quell opposition. The mass graves unearthed in various regime-controlled areas offer crucial evidence of these crimes, but there is an urgent need for more experts to investigate and preserve these sites.

While efforts to collect evidence continue, the struggle to secure these sites remains difficult, with some locations being ransacked by desperate families seeking answers. Human rights groups emphasize the importance of preserving Syria’s archives and evidence to ensure accountability for the crimes committed by the Assad regime.

As the world watches, the fight for justice continues, with Syrians demanding the truth and calling for the perpetrators to be held accountable for their actions.

This chilling revelation underscores the importance of securing evidence and documenting the crimes committed, as the international community works toward justice for the Syrian people.