Massacres in Sweida: Discovery of 3 mass graves; victims buried randomly

Media sources from Sweida revealed the existence of three new mass graves where victims from the city and its countryside were buried. These civilians were killed during the military attack on the area last July. The sources indicated that these graves contain dozens of bodies, some of which are charred and can only be identified thru dental records.

9 December, 2025 20:42

NEWS DESK

The "Sweida Press" website reported from private sources the existence of 3 new mass graves where dozens of civilians from Sweida were buried. They were among those killed during the military invasion by the transitional government forces in Syria and their affiliated armed groups in mid-July of last year.

According to the sources, the largest mass grave is located in the "Azra" area in the eastern countryside of Daraa, where about 50 bodies were buried randomly and without legal supervision, amid testimonies indicating that some of the victims were injured and executed on the spot at a medical evacuation point in Busra al-Harir during the attack on Sweida.

The website pointed out that it obtained "photos showing the bodies before their burial, without any documentation or procedures to preserve the victims' rights or identities."

According to the website, other mass burial operations took place in Najha and Adra in the Damascus countryside under the supervision of the "Center for Identifying the Missing," which periodically announces on its Facebook page the unidentified bodies of the victims of the Sweida events, including 39 charred bodies that can only be identified thru dental records until DNA labs are activated.

The website quoted a relative of one of the missing persons from the town of Najran, who said that the center provided him with the number of his brother's body buried in Najha, but he was surprised by the demand of 14 million lira to extract the body and transfer it to Sweida, which seems to be a financial exploitation that adds to the suffering of families searching for their loved ones.

These incidents raise concerns about a systematic policy of enforced disappearance and sectarian killing, which constitutes a complete war crime according to the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 17 of the Fourth Geneva Convention obliges the parties to the conflict to bury the bodies with dignity, document the identities of the victims, and inform their families of their fate.

In contrast, the mass graves in Asra and Najha and Adra reveal serious human rights violations in terms of haphazard burials, the absence of official documentation, and the deprivation of families from knowing the burial places of their children, which deepens the societal wound and complicates the justice file in Syria after the fall of the Ba'athist regime.

ANHA