Najha Cemetery: Syria's largest mass grave created by Assad 

In a detailed investigation, The New York Times exposed how the Assad regime transformed the Najha Cemetery, located south of Damascus, into one of the largest mass graves in Syria. Thousands of regime opponents who died under torture or under mysterious circumstances in detention centers were buried there.

Using 3D imaging technology, satellite imagery, and testimonies from former workers, the newspaper reconstructed a detailed picture of the mass trenches dug by regime forces since 2011. The images showed that some of the pits were three meters deep and 90 meters long—large enough to hold hundreds of bodies at once.

According to witness accounts, the mass burials began in mid-2011, initially using empty civilian graves. As the killing escalated, intelligence agencies began digging massive trenches into which bodies were dumped from refrigerated trucks, usually at night or dawn, under tight security and with workers’ phones confiscated.

Satellite images revealed a consistent pattern of systematic burials between 2012 and 2024, during periods when the regime maintained control of the area. While burial operations were temporarily disrupted in 2013 due to opposition advances, they resumed in the Qatifah area before returning to Najha later on.

With the fall of the regime in late 2024, the uncovered trenches reappeared, prompting efforts to uncover the mass graves.

Estimates indicate that more than 160,000 people remain missing. Kathryne Bomberger, Director of the International Commission on Missing Persons, said: “The mass graves we’ve seen in Syria are larger than anything we’ve encountered before.”

A-H 

ANHA