Live Blog Update| Syria War
This is an entry from: Live: Over 100,000 bodies found in mass grave near Damascus

Morning update

17 December 2024 05:57 GMT

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Syria:

  • HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the group that toppled Bashar al-Assad said Monday that rebel factions in war-torn Syria would be "disbanded" and their fighters placed under the defence ministry, and called for sanctions to be lifted so refugees can return.

  • A mass grave outside of Damascus contained the bodies of at least 100,000 people killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, said US-based Syrian advocacy organisation The Syrian Emergency Task Force on Monday. The group called for the grave sites to be preserved to safeguard evidence for investigations.

  • The prisoner who was found and filmed by CNN being released by rebels from a Damascus jail was a former intelligence officer with the deposed Syrian regime, according to local residents, and not an ordinary citizen who had been imprisoned, as he had claimed, the channel's investigation confirmed the findings of Syrian fact-checkers investigation.

  • Members of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (Afad) began searching Sednaya prison near Damascus with advanced equipment on Monday for hidden underground cells.