UPDATED
Assad’s fall exposed underground dungeon imprisoning thousands of Syrians
As rescue teams race against time, shocking new reports reveal the horrors of the notorious Sednaya prison, where reportedly thousands of political prisoners remain trapped in underground cells.
Around 30,000 inmates, including women and children, were freed on December 8, 2024. / Photo: AFP
The dramatic but inevitable fall of the brutal dictator Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria has led to the unveiling of many dark sites where human beings were slaughtered, tortured, raped and maimed for the past 40 years.
One of them is the notorious Sednaya prison.
On December 8, an underground dungeon within the prison premises was discovered, where thousands of people were entrapped. These individuals were condemned to rot there, but with the fall of Damascus and the end of Assad’s tyranny, efforts are underway to uncover this dark site and rescue those still trapped.
So far 30,000 inmates, including women and children, in various prisons have been freed by the armed anti-regime groups.
Many inmates had no idea what had transpired outside the prison walls. Some were unaware that Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, had died 24 years earlier, while others mistakenly believed that Saddam Hussein was still alive and responsible for their release.
Yet, a grim reality soon came to light as over 100,000 "political prisoners" of the ousted regime leader Assad remain trapped, according to BBC, citing The Damascus Countryside Governorate, unable to be freed due to a specially designed electronic locking system.
The prisoners were spotted through CCTV monitors, but reaching them was not easy.
‘Human Slaughterhouse’
Sednaya Prison, known as the "Human Slaughterhouse," is located near Damascus, Syria’s capital, and consists of multiple floors, including several underground levels called the "red prisons."
Built-in 1987, it gained infamy as a torture centre for "political prisoners," mainly civilians and activists opposing the Assad regime.
Reports indicate these subterranean cells are in complete darkness, with minimal ventilation, and detainees are now left without food or water.
While the time is ticking for those under the ground, urgent calls for help to access the red prisons grew louder. The White Helmets, Syria’s civil defence group, responded and said they had deployed five specialised teams to Sednaya to investigate reports of hidden underground cells.
These teams include search-and-rescue experts, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dogs, and medical responders.
The group states, “The teams consist of search and rescue units, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dog units, and medical responders.”
Two teams began operating at midnight, guided by individuals familiar with the prison's layout. Other teams face delays due to poor road conditions and heavy traffic.
The Damascus Countryside Governorate has appealed to former regime soldiers and prison workers to provide codes for the electronic locks on underground doors to free prisoners, some of whom were "almost choking to death" from lack of ventilation.
The governorate said that they have been unable to open them to free "more than 100,000 detainees who can be seen on CCTV monitors".
‘Left to rot’
Videos circulating on social media depict thousands of detainees trapped beneath layers of concrete, never seeing daylight. Activists have described these images as horrifying evidence of prisoners being held in solitary confinement, left to rot.
Efforts to free detainees continue, with authorities warning that many are "almost choking to death" due to the lack of ventilation.
The head of White Helmets tweeted at 4:37 GMT that several areas, including the kitchen and oven, had been opened, but no hidden basements or doors had been found yet.
“We are prepared for the worst but continue to search with two experienced guides,” he wrote on his social media account.
A video has been circulating online of “thousands trapped beneath layers of structures, never seeing the light of day,” where social media users say “The images coming out of Sednaya Prison should haunt us for ages to come, detainees held without charge in solitary confinement, left to rot.”
“This is the "Human Slaughterhouse" of Syria.”
People took over the internet with their shock towards the newly publicised discovered underground cells.
What happened in those cells?
Sednaya’s infamy stems from decades of human rights violations. Prisoners were subjected to severe torture, sexual assault, and denial of basic needs.
“You are tortured during the day and raped at night,” Mira, a former prisoner at Sednaya, revealed in a previous interview with TRT World.
Mira became pregnant as a result of repeated assaults by regime soldiers. “Everything inside me is dead,” she said. “I’m only living for my children—for their education, health, and future.”
Many children born in captivity, products of the systemic sexual violence within the prison, had never known life outside its walls.
On Sunday, these children were freed alongside their mothers, finally experiencing a world beyond Sednaya’s horrors.
Previously speaking to TRT World, a former guardian Hamza, who worked in Saydnaya prison for a year, said, “We saw the torture and prisoners’ pain, their faces were disfigured, their backs and their bodies were bruised their footwere swollen.”
“They had to sleep standing, eat and defecate at the same place, there was no bathroom. Sometimes they even die standing,” he recalled.
He said, “Many! Many! So many died, we couldn't count them."
A 2022 report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Sednaya as a "death camp," estimating over 30,000 detainees died between 2011 and 2018 from executions, starvation, and lack of medical care.
Amnesty International’s 2017 report labelled it a "human slaughterhouse," alleging executions were sanctioned at the highest levels of Assad’s regime—a claim the government dismissed as "baseless."
The exact number of the killings remains unknown.
Human rights groups have identified over 27 detention centres under Assad’s control where torture and killings are routine. A defector smuggled tens of thousands of photos documenting murdered detainees, revealing the extent of atrocities committed in these facilities.
As rescue teams race against time, shocking new reports reveal the horrors of the notorious Sednaya prison, where reportedly thousands of political prisoners remain trapped in underground cells.
Around 30,000 inmates, including women and children, were freed on December 8, 2024. / Photo: AFP
The dramatic but inevitable fall of the brutal dictator Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria has led to the unveiling of many dark sites where human beings were slaughtered, tortured, raped and maimed for the past 40 years.
One of them is the notorious Sednaya prison.
On December 8, an underground dungeon within the prison premises was discovered, where thousands of people were entrapped. These individuals were condemned to rot there, but with the fall of Damascus and the end of Assad’s tyranny, efforts are underway to uncover this dark site and rescue those still trapped.
So far 30,000 inmates, including women and children, in various prisons have been freed by the armed anti-regime groups.
Many inmates had no idea what had transpired outside the prison walls. Some were unaware that Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, had died 24 years earlier, while others mistakenly believed that Saddam Hussein was still alive and responsible for their release.
Yet, a grim reality soon came to light as over 100,000 "political prisoners" of the ousted regime leader Assad remain trapped, according to BBC, citing The Damascus Countryside Governorate, unable to be freed due to a specially designed electronic locking system.
The prisoners were spotted through CCTV monitors, but reaching them was not easy.
‘Human Slaughterhouse’
Sednaya Prison, known as the "Human Slaughterhouse," is located near Damascus, Syria’s capital, and consists of multiple floors, including several underground levels called the "red prisons."
Built-in 1987, it gained infamy as a torture centre for "political prisoners," mainly civilians and activists opposing the Assad regime.
Reports indicate these subterranean cells are in complete darkness, with minimal ventilation, and detainees are now left without food or water.
While the time is ticking for those under the ground, urgent calls for help to access the red prisons grew louder. The White Helmets, Syria’s civil defence group, responded and said they had deployed five specialised teams to Sednaya to investigate reports of hidden underground cells.
These teams include search-and-rescue experts, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dogs, and medical responders.
The group states, “The teams consist of search and rescue units, wall-breaching specialists, iron door-opening crews, trained dog units, and medical responders.”
Two teams began operating at midnight, guided by individuals familiar with the prison's layout. Other teams face delays due to poor road conditions and heavy traffic.
The Damascus Countryside Governorate has appealed to former regime soldiers and prison workers to provide codes for the electronic locks on underground doors to free prisoners, some of whom were "almost choking to death" from lack of ventilation.
The governorate said that they have been unable to open them to free "more than 100,000 detainees who can be seen on CCTV monitors".
‘Left to rot’
Videos circulating on social media depict thousands of detainees trapped beneath layers of concrete, never seeing daylight. Activists have described these images as horrifying evidence of prisoners being held in solitary confinement, left to rot.
Efforts to free detainees continue, with authorities warning that many are "almost choking to death" due to the lack of ventilation.
The head of White Helmets tweeted at 4:37 GMT that several areas, including the kitchen and oven, had been opened, but no hidden basements or doors had been found yet.
“We are prepared for the worst but continue to search with two experienced guides,” he wrote on his social media account.
A video has been circulating online of “thousands trapped beneath layers of structures, never seeing the light of day,” where social media users say “The images coming out of Sednaya Prison should haunt us for ages to come, detainees held without charge in solitary confinement, left to rot.”
“This is the "Human Slaughterhouse" of Syria.”
People took over the internet with their shock towards the newly publicised discovered underground cells.
What happened in those cells?
Sednaya’s infamy stems from decades of human rights violations. Prisoners were subjected to severe torture, sexual assault, and denial of basic needs.
“You are tortured during the day and raped at night,” Mira, a former prisoner at Sednaya, revealed in a previous interview with TRT World.
Mira became pregnant as a result of repeated assaults by regime soldiers. “Everything inside me is dead,” she said. “I’m only living for my children—for their education, health, and future.”
Many children born in captivity, products of the systemic sexual violence within the prison, had never known life outside its walls.
On Sunday, these children were freed alongside their mothers, finally experiencing a world beyond Sednaya’s horrors.
Previously speaking to TRT World, a former guardian Hamza, who worked in Saydnaya prison for a year, said, “We saw the torture and prisoners’ pain, their faces were disfigured, their backs and their bodies were bruised their footwere swollen.”
“They had to sleep standing, eat and defecate at the same place, there was no bathroom. Sometimes they even die standing,” he recalled.
He said, “Many! Many! So many died, we couldn't count them."
A 2022 report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described Sednaya as a "death camp," estimating over 30,000 detainees died between 2011 and 2018 from executions, starvation, and lack of medical care.
Amnesty International’s 2017 report labelled it a "human slaughterhouse," alleging executions were sanctioned at the highest levels of Assad’s regime—a claim the government dismissed as "baseless."
The exact number of the killings remains unknown.
Human rights groups have identified over 27 detention centres under Assad’s control where torture and killings are routine. A defector smuggled tens of thousands of photos documenting murdered detainees, revealing the extent of atrocities committed in these facilities.
Cells, interrogation rooms, inscriptions: The need to protect evidence in Assad’s prisons
In the chaotic, jubilant process of emptying Assad’s prisons—including the notorious Saydnaya on the outskirts of Damascus—misinformation has spread and crucial evidence has been tampered with, SNHR’s Nour al-Khatib tells Syria Direct.
By Ammar Hamou
SYRA DIRECT
9 December 2024
Shoes, clothes and blankets cover the floor of a secret compartment at the Saydnaya Prison outside Damascus, where the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) worked to uncover hidden chambers after the fall of the Assad regime, 9/12/2024
In the chaotic, jubilant process of emptying Assad’s prisons—including the notorious Saydnaya on the outskirts of Damascus—misinformation has spread and crucial evidence has been tampered with, SNHR’s Nour al-Khatib tells Syria Direct.
By Ammar Hamou
SYRA DIRECT
9 December 2024
Shoes, clothes and blankets cover the floor of a secret compartment at the Saydnaya Prison outside Damascus, where the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) worked to uncover hidden chambers after the fall of the Assad regime, 9/12/2024
(Anagha Subhash Nair/Anadolu/AFP)
The moment more than 50 years of the Assad family’s rule of Syria came to an end on Sunday, Syrians in the country and around the world turned their focus to one place: Saydnaya, the notorious military prison just outside Damascus known as the “human slaughterhouse.” Hundreds flocked to the site, searching for their detained and disappeared relatives and loved ones.
As opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) pushed south from Aleppo to Damascus throughout the previous week, they captured prison after prison, tearing open the doors and freeing thousands from inside in chaotic and jubilant scenes.
By the time the regime fell, the Aleppo Central Prison, Hama Central Prison and Homs Central Prison were empty, alongside other detention sites. Videos posted online showed men, women and children emerging in a state of panic and astonishment.
At the same time, this chaotic emptying of Assad’s archipelago of prisons and detention centers led to “large amounts of evidence being tampered with,” Nour al-Khatib, the head of the Detention and Enforced Disappearance Department at the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said.
In an interview with Syria Direct, al-Khatib—who was herself detained by the regime in 2012—discussed her personal and professional experience with Syria’s prisons, and explained how these sites should be managed in the days to come.
‘Pain and survival’
Al-Khatib, 31, is from al-Bab al-Qibli, one of Hama’s oldest neighborhoods. She became involved in revolutionary activity days after the city’s first protest on March 25, 2011, and her media, humanitarian and medical work continued until she was arrested by regime military intelligence on April 3, 2012. She was detained for nine months, spending most of that time in the Homs Military Prison.
Upon her release, al-Khatib tried to stay in Hama, but ultimately fled the city in mid-2013, heading to the opposition-controlled countryside to the north. After spending six years in northwestern Syria, she moved to Turkey, where she remains today, eager to finally return home.
When opposition forces announced they took control of Hama city on December 5, al-Khatib was overwhelmed with happiness. “It is not just a city. It holds large parts of my memories from childhood and the revolution. It contains the personal details of my life and pain,” she said. “The liberation of Hama is a collective matter for all of its people. We could say that their memories of the 1982 massacres will [also] be liberated and brought to light.”
“I left my city 12 years ago, almost a year after I got out of prison,” she said. “I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to my family. It was like being pulled out by the roots. I was 21 years old then, you can imagine this harsh experience at that age.”
As opposition forces began emptying Syria’s prisons, al-Khatib said she wanted to visit her cell in Homs Military Prison—“the place where I directly experienced injustice and cruelty.” Going back would not only be “just for the sake of visiting, but also to remind myself and others of the serious violations Syrians suffered,” she added. “That cell symbolizes pain and survival at the same time.”
Emptying the prisons
“Watching videos of prisoners’ liberation stirred up very deep emotions in me,” al-Khatib said. “I felt joy for those who finally obtained freedom after indescribable suffering,” while recalling “the men and women who were detained with me, many of whom did not have this opportunity [to survive], and some whose fate is still unknown.” The images themselves “were a vivid reminder of the importance of justice and the continuing work to release all the detainees,” she said.
However, “this stage requires careful documentation to ensure the fates of all prisoners are known,” al-Khatib stressed. On Monday, SNHR issued an appeal to families of Syria’s detained and forcibly disappeared people to reach out directly to inquire about their loved ones by email or WhatsApp. It also shared a link to document cases of detention.
Since opposition forces began freeing prisoners during Operation Deterring Aggression, “our teams have been working 24 hours a day, including field monitors deployed in all Syrian provinces. Sometimes, we reinforce the team in areas seeing new prison releases,” she said. At the same time, “we communicate with those released to collect information and ways to contact their relatives,” and receive “thousands of messages a day from people asking if their children are among those released.”
People gather as the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) and experts search for hidden basements at the Saydnaya Prison outside Damascus, 9/12/2024 (Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP)
“There was chaos as detainees were released. A lot of records and evidence, including in Saydnaya, were tampered with,” al-Khatib said. Amid the chaos, the “volume of misinformation being circulated” is another challenge. “People are saying there are basements under Saydnaya, while the civil defense and other experts said there are no indications that detainees remain in these places,” she added.
“Committees with experience in opening prisons and dealing with detention centers should have been formed, especially with the Military Operations Department [the operations room overseeing the HTS-led offensive] knowing it was advancing in areas with prisons,” al-Khatib said. “These teams should have been accompanied by humanitarian organizations to provide urgent care as soon as people were released.”
Many videos widely circulating on social media “show the detainees in a state of shock,” she said. “Detainees are cut off from the world. Suddenly, the door opens without them knowing what is going on and who these people are.” It would have been better for “organizations or individuals to enter the cells, tell them what happened in Syria, provide urgent care and then transfer them to suitable locations,” she added.
“The prisoners came out and were left in the streets. Believe me, most do not know how to contact their families, and do not have their numbers memorized,” al-Khatib said. This chaos needs “to be controlled as much as possible. A lot of evidence has been tampered with, and huge numbers of people came out dazed and traumatized.”
Detention centers and security branches should be treated “as crime scenes, they should not be touched at all—not the documents inside, not the torture instruments, not even the cells,” al-Khatib said. “I don’t know if it is too late, or if we can do something.”
“Detainees’ official records and administrative records are at the forefront of evidence that must be preserved and not tampered with. Similarly, the design of cells, interrogation rooms and collective detention areas should remain intact, because they could serve as physical evidence,” she added. “Equipment or torture instruments should be retained as physical evidence showing the extent of the violations,” while “recordings, photographs and notes taken during the process of releasing detainees should be preserved and archived.”
At a personal level, “the architecture of cells and prisons is an important piece of my individual and collective memory,” al-Khatib said. “Visiting them may help detainees confront complex emotions, whether to gain strength or transform this experience into a humanitarian message.”
“The walls of these sites have inscriptions and letters we wrote with our own hands. Leaving them unaltered preserves the voices of those who lived the experience and immortalizes their impact,” she said. “You may be surprised, or feel it is an irrational request, but if I could preserve the very smell of the prisons, I would.”
This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.
The moment more than 50 years of the Assad family’s rule of Syria came to an end on Sunday, Syrians in the country and around the world turned their focus to one place: Saydnaya, the notorious military prison just outside Damascus known as the “human slaughterhouse.” Hundreds flocked to the site, searching for their detained and disappeared relatives and loved ones.
As opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) pushed south from Aleppo to Damascus throughout the previous week, they captured prison after prison, tearing open the doors and freeing thousands from inside in chaotic and jubilant scenes.
By the time the regime fell, the Aleppo Central Prison, Hama Central Prison and Homs Central Prison were empty, alongside other detention sites. Videos posted online showed men, women and children emerging in a state of panic and astonishment.
At the same time, this chaotic emptying of Assad’s archipelago of prisons and detention centers led to “large amounts of evidence being tampered with,” Nour al-Khatib, the head of the Detention and Enforced Disappearance Department at the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said.
In an interview with Syria Direct, al-Khatib—who was herself detained by the regime in 2012—discussed her personal and professional experience with Syria’s prisons, and explained how these sites should be managed in the days to come.
‘Pain and survival’
Al-Khatib, 31, is from al-Bab al-Qibli, one of Hama’s oldest neighborhoods. She became involved in revolutionary activity days after the city’s first protest on March 25, 2011, and her media, humanitarian and medical work continued until she was arrested by regime military intelligence on April 3, 2012. She was detained for nine months, spending most of that time in the Homs Military Prison.
Upon her release, al-Khatib tried to stay in Hama, but ultimately fled the city in mid-2013, heading to the opposition-controlled countryside to the north. After spending six years in northwestern Syria, she moved to Turkey, where she remains today, eager to finally return home.
When opposition forces announced they took control of Hama city on December 5, al-Khatib was overwhelmed with happiness. “It is not just a city. It holds large parts of my memories from childhood and the revolution. It contains the personal details of my life and pain,” she said. “The liberation of Hama is a collective matter for all of its people. We could say that their memories of the 1982 massacres will [also] be liberated and brought to light.”
“I left my city 12 years ago, almost a year after I got out of prison,” she said. “I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to my family. It was like being pulled out by the roots. I was 21 years old then, you can imagine this harsh experience at that age.”
As opposition forces began emptying Syria’s prisons, al-Khatib said she wanted to visit her cell in Homs Military Prison—“the place where I directly experienced injustice and cruelty.” Going back would not only be “just for the sake of visiting, but also to remind myself and others of the serious violations Syrians suffered,” she added. “That cell symbolizes pain and survival at the same time.”
Emptying the prisons
“Watching videos of prisoners’ liberation stirred up very deep emotions in me,” al-Khatib said. “I felt joy for those who finally obtained freedom after indescribable suffering,” while recalling “the men and women who were detained with me, many of whom did not have this opportunity [to survive], and some whose fate is still unknown.” The images themselves “were a vivid reminder of the importance of justice and the continuing work to release all the detainees,” she said.
However, “this stage requires careful documentation to ensure the fates of all prisoners are known,” al-Khatib stressed. On Monday, SNHR issued an appeal to families of Syria’s detained and forcibly disappeared people to reach out directly to inquire about their loved ones by email or WhatsApp. It also shared a link to document cases of detention.
Since opposition forces began freeing prisoners during Operation Deterring Aggression, “our teams have been working 24 hours a day, including field monitors deployed in all Syrian provinces. Sometimes, we reinforce the team in areas seeing new prison releases,” she said. At the same time, “we communicate with those released to collect information and ways to contact their relatives,” and receive “thousands of messages a day from people asking if their children are among those released.”
People gather as the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets) and experts search for hidden basements at the Saydnaya Prison outside Damascus, 9/12/2024 (Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP)
“There was chaos as detainees were released. A lot of records and evidence, including in Saydnaya, were tampered with,” al-Khatib said. Amid the chaos, the “volume of misinformation being circulated” is another challenge. “People are saying there are basements under Saydnaya, while the civil defense and other experts said there are no indications that detainees remain in these places,” she added.
“Committees with experience in opening prisons and dealing with detention centers should have been formed, especially with the Military Operations Department [the operations room overseeing the HTS-led offensive] knowing it was advancing in areas with prisons,” al-Khatib said. “These teams should have been accompanied by humanitarian organizations to provide urgent care as soon as people were released.”
Many videos widely circulating on social media “show the detainees in a state of shock,” she said. “Detainees are cut off from the world. Suddenly, the door opens without them knowing what is going on and who these people are.” It would have been better for “organizations or individuals to enter the cells, tell them what happened in Syria, provide urgent care and then transfer them to suitable locations,” she added.
“The prisoners came out and were left in the streets. Believe me, most do not know how to contact their families, and do not have their numbers memorized,” al-Khatib said. This chaos needs “to be controlled as much as possible. A lot of evidence has been tampered with, and huge numbers of people came out dazed and traumatized.”
Detention centers and security branches should be treated “as crime scenes, they should not be touched at all—not the documents inside, not the torture instruments, not even the cells,” al-Khatib said. “I don’t know if it is too late, or if we can do something.”
“Detainees’ official records and administrative records are at the forefront of evidence that must be preserved and not tampered with. Similarly, the design of cells, interrogation rooms and collective detention areas should remain intact, because they could serve as physical evidence,” she added. “Equipment or torture instruments should be retained as physical evidence showing the extent of the violations,” while “recordings, photographs and notes taken during the process of releasing detainees should be preserved and archived.”
At a personal level, “the architecture of cells and prisons is an important piece of my individual and collective memory,” al-Khatib said. “Visiting them may help detainees confront complex emotions, whether to gain strength or transform this experience into a humanitarian message.”
“The walls of these sites have inscriptions and letters we wrote with our own hands. Leaving them unaltered preserves the voices of those who lived the experience and immortalizes their impact,” she said. “You may be surprised, or feel it is an irrational request, but if I could preserve the very smell of the prisons, I would.”
This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.
Syrians search for loved ones missing in Assad's jails
People inspect documents they found in the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, on Monday. AP
Syrian rescuers searched a jail synonymous with the worst atrocities of ousted president Bashar Al Assad's rule, as people in the capital flocked to a central square Monday to celebrate their country's freedom.
Assad fled Syria as rebels swept into the capital, bringing to a spectacular end on Sunday five decades of brutal rule by his clan over a country ravaged by one of the deadliest wars of the century.
He oversaw a crackdown on a democracy movement that erupted in 2011, sparking a war that killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes.
At the core of the system of rule that Assad inherited from his father Hafez was a brutal complex of prisons and detention centres used to eliminate dissent by jailing those suspected of stepping out of the ruling Baath party's line.
On Monday, rescuers from the Syrian White Helmets said they were searching for secret doors or basements in Saydnaya prison, looking for any detainees who might be trapped.
"We are working with all our energy to reach a new hope, and we must be prepared for the worst," the organisation said in a statement.
Aida Taha, aged 65, said she had been "roaming the streets like a madwoman" in search of her brother, who was arrested in 2012. She said she went to Saydnaya, where she believes some prisoners are still underground.
"The prison has three or four underground floors," Taha said. "They say that the doors won't open because they don't have the proper codes."
"We've been oppressed long enough, we want our children back," she added.
An aerial photo shows people gathering as Syrian rescuers and experts search for potential hidden basements at the Saydnaya prison. AFP
While Syria has been at war for 13 years, the government's collapse ended up coming in a matter of days, with a lightning offensive launched by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS).
'Nightmare'
In central Damascus on Monday, despite all the uncertainties for the future, the joy was palpable. "It's indescribable, we never thought this nightmare would end, we are reborn," 49-year-old Rim Ramadan, a civil servant at the finance ministry, told AFP.
"We were afraid for 55 years of speaking, even at home, we used to say the walls had ears," Ramadan said, as people honked their car horns and rebels fired their guns into the air. "We feel like we're living a dream," she added.
During the offensive launched on Nov.27, rebels wrested city after city from Assad's control, opening the gates of prisons along the way and freeing thousands of people, many of them held on political charges.
Social media groups were alight with Syrians sharing images of detainees reportedly brought out from the dungeons, in a collective effort to reunite families with their loved ones, some of whom had been missing for years.
A line of people heads toward the infamous Saydnaya military prison. AP
Others, like Fadwa Mahmoud, whose husband and son are missing, posted calls for help finding their missing relatives. "Where are you, Maher and Abdel Aziz, it's time for me to hear your news, oh God, please come back, let my joy become complete," wrote Mahmoud, herself a former detainee.
US President Joe Biden said Assad should be "held accountable" as he called his downfall "a historic opportunity" for the people of Syria.
"The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice," he said. But he also cautioned that Islamist groups within the victorious rebel alliance would face scrutiny.
"Some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human right abuses," Biden said.
Amnesty International also called for perpetrators of rights violations to face justice, with its chief Agnes Callamard urging the forces that ousted Assad to "break free from the violence of the past."
"Any political transition must ensure accountability for perpetrators of serious violations and guarantee that those responsible are held to account," UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Monday.
Where is Assad?
How Assad might face justice remains unclear, especially after Russia refused on Monday to confirm reports by Russian news agencies that he had fled to Moscow.
The Syrian embassy in Moscow raised the flag of the opposition, and the Kremlin said it would discuss the status of its bases in Syria with the new authorities.
Russia played an instrumental role in keeping Assad in power, directly intervening in the war starting in 2015 and providing air cover to the army on the ground as it sought to crush the rebellion.
Agence France-Presse
Matt Murphy
BBC News
12/09/2024
White Helmets
The Saydnaya Prison pictured on Monday morning by the White Helmets
The Saydnaya Prison pictured on Monday morning by the White Helmets
- a Syrian civil defence organisation
Since the collapse of the Assad regime on Sunday, Syrian civilians hoping for news of their relatives have been flocking towards the country's most secretive and notorious prison, Saydnaya.
Established in the early 1980s in a small town about 30km (19 miles) north of the capital Damascus, Saydnaya is where the Assad family has held opponents of their regime for decades.
Referred to as a "human slaughterhouse" by rights groups, thousands of people are said to have been detained, tortured and executed at the prison since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.
The layout of Saydnaya has been a closely guarded secret and images from inside the prison have never been seen before.
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Details of the prison's layout can only be established based on interviews with former guards and detainees.
But information from rights groups and the US State Department have offered an insight into the building which became a powerful symbol of the Assads' brutal and repressive rule.
A sprawling 'slaughterhouse'
Saydnaya was for decades administered by the Syrian military police and military intelligence, with construction beginning in the early 1980s. The first detainees arrived at the 1.4 sq km facility in 1987 - 16 years into the rule of President Hafeez al-Assad, Bashar's father.
Once fully operational the prison contained two main detention facilities. The White Building was, according to rights groups, mainly built to hold military officers and troops suspected of being disloyal to the regime. It was an L-shaped complex in the south-east of the sprawling complex.
The Red Building - the main prison - was for opponents of the regime, initially comprising those suspected of membership of Islamist groups. This wing was noted for its distinctive Y-shape, with three straight corridors spreading out from a central hub.
Around 10,000-20,000 people could be housed between the two buildings, according to rights groups that have spoken to released prisoners. Videos circulating online since Sunday - which have been authenticated by BBC Verify - showed a large surveillance room in the prison filled with CCTV screens showing what appeared to be dozens of prison cells.
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A 2017 report by Amnesty International citing ex-guards at the prison found that after the Syrian civil war began in 2011 the White Building was emptied of existing prisoners, and prepared instead to house those detained for taking part in protests opposing President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
One former officer told Amnesty that "after 2011, [Saydnaya] became the main political prison in Syria".
The organisation also quoted testimony from former prisoners claiming that those held in the Red Building were frequently exposed to various methods of torture, including severe beatings, rape and denial of access to food and medicine.
Housed beneath the White Building is what those speaking to Amnesty called an "execution room", where detainees in the Red Building would be transported to be hanged.
A former guard said that a list of those to be executed from the Red Building would arrive at lunchtime. Troops would then take those marked for death to a basement holding cell - which could sometimes contain up to 100 people - where they were subjected to beatings.What just happened in Syria?
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Prisoners who spoke to Amnesty said detainees in the Red Building were typically "transferred" from the building in the dead of night - usually between midnight and 03:00.
Blindfolded detainees were then led down a flight of stairs into the "execution room" in the south-east section of the White Building, before being led up onto a one metre-high platform with 10 nooses from which they were hanged.
According to Amnesty, in 2012 the room was expanded, with a second platform with 20 more nooses. In footage shared by rebel-affiliated media after the fall of the regime, fighters displayed dozens of nooses they found in rooms around Saydnaya.
It is estimated by rights groups that more than 30,000 detainees had either been executed or died as a result of torture, lack of medical care or starvation between 2011 and 2018. Citing accounts from the few released inmates, at least another 500 detainees had been executed between 2018 and 2021, the Association of the Missing and Detainees in Saydnaya Prison (AMDSP) said in 2022.
In 2017, the US State Department claimed that authorities had constructed a possible crematorium on the site to dispose of the remains of murdered prisoners. In the images below, a small wing can be seen adjoining the White Building.
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A State Department spokesperson said officials had built the facility as part of "an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison".
Satellite images released by US investigators showed a structure which they said was a small building converted into a crematorium. Officials said snow melt on the roof of the building helped to back up their claims - adding that at least 50 prisoners a day were being hanged at the facility at the time.
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Intense security surrounded the complex
Throughout its history, the facility was heavily guarded, with fortifications surrounding the grounds.
The exterior of the prison was patrolled by a detachment of 200 troops from the military, with an additional 250 soldiers from military intelligence and the military police responsible for interior security, according to the 2022 report from AMDSP.
Troops from the 21st Brigade of the army's Third Division were chosen to defend the prison because of their strong loyalty to the regime. Soldiers were commanded by officers from President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority.
Since the downfall of the Assad regime, civilians have been urged to avoid rushing through the perimeter of the prison. Rights groups say the exterior of the complex is known to be heavily mined. A ring of anti-tank munitions runs around the exterior of the prison, with a secondary ring of anti-personnel mines running through the centre of the facility.
Images released by the White Helmets - a Syrian civil defence group - showed high walls topped with barbed wire also surrounding the complex. Guard towers can also be seen dotted around the facility.
The Assad regime always denied the accusations levelled against it by international organisation, calling them "baseless" and "devoid of truth".
Amnesty says for families who suspect their relatives have been held in Saydnaya the fall of the regime "raises the prospect that they could finally discover the fate of their missing loved ones, in some cases decades later".
Since the collapse of the Assad regime on Sunday, Syrian civilians hoping for news of their relatives have been flocking towards the country's most secretive and notorious prison, Saydnaya.
Established in the early 1980s in a small town about 30km (19 miles) north of the capital Damascus, Saydnaya is where the Assad family has held opponents of their regime for decades.
Referred to as a "human slaughterhouse" by rights groups, thousands of people are said to have been detained, tortured and executed at the prison since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.
The layout of Saydnaya has been a closely guarded secret and images from inside the prison have never been seen before.
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Details of the prison's layout can only be established based on interviews with former guards and detainees.
But information from rights groups and the US State Department have offered an insight into the building which became a powerful symbol of the Assads' brutal and repressive rule.
A sprawling 'slaughterhouse'
Saydnaya was for decades administered by the Syrian military police and military intelligence, with construction beginning in the early 1980s. The first detainees arrived at the 1.4 sq km facility in 1987 - 16 years into the rule of President Hafeez al-Assad, Bashar's father.
Once fully operational the prison contained two main detention facilities. The White Building was, according to rights groups, mainly built to hold military officers and troops suspected of being disloyal to the regime. It was an L-shaped complex in the south-east of the sprawling complex.
The Red Building - the main prison - was for opponents of the regime, initially comprising those suspected of membership of Islamist groups. This wing was noted for its distinctive Y-shape, with three straight corridors spreading out from a central hub.
Around 10,000-20,000 people could be housed between the two buildings, according to rights groups that have spoken to released prisoners. Videos circulating online since Sunday - which have been authenticated by BBC Verify - showed a large surveillance room in the prison filled with CCTV screens showing what appeared to be dozens of prison cells.
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A 2017 report by Amnesty International citing ex-guards at the prison found that after the Syrian civil war began in 2011 the White Building was emptied of existing prisoners, and prepared instead to house those detained for taking part in protests opposing President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
One former officer told Amnesty that "after 2011, [Saydnaya] became the main political prison in Syria".
The organisation also quoted testimony from former prisoners claiming that those held in the Red Building were frequently exposed to various methods of torture, including severe beatings, rape and denial of access to food and medicine.
Housed beneath the White Building is what those speaking to Amnesty called an "execution room", where detainees in the Red Building would be transported to be hanged.
A former guard said that a list of those to be executed from the Red Building would arrive at lunchtime. Troops would then take those marked for death to a basement holding cell - which could sometimes contain up to 100 people - where they were subjected to beatings.What just happened in Syria?
HTS leader not only player in Syria's fast-changing future
'No-one slept in Syria last night' - how news of Assad's toppling spread
Prisoners who spoke to Amnesty said detainees in the Red Building were typically "transferred" from the building in the dead of night - usually between midnight and 03:00.
Blindfolded detainees were then led down a flight of stairs into the "execution room" in the south-east section of the White Building, before being led up onto a one metre-high platform with 10 nooses from which they were hanged.
According to Amnesty, in 2012 the room was expanded, with a second platform with 20 more nooses. In footage shared by rebel-affiliated media after the fall of the regime, fighters displayed dozens of nooses they found in rooms around Saydnaya.
It is estimated by rights groups that more than 30,000 detainees had either been executed or died as a result of torture, lack of medical care or starvation between 2011 and 2018. Citing accounts from the few released inmates, at least another 500 detainees had been executed between 2018 and 2021, the Association of the Missing and Detainees in Saydnaya Prison (AMDSP) said in 2022.
In 2017, the US State Department claimed that authorities had constructed a possible crematorium on the site to dispose of the remains of murdered prisoners. In the images below, a small wing can be seen adjoining the White Building.
Advertisement
A State Department spokesperson said officials had built the facility as part of "an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison".
Satellite images released by US investigators showed a structure which they said was a small building converted into a crematorium. Officials said snow melt on the roof of the building helped to back up their claims - adding that at least 50 prisoners a day were being hanged at the facility at the time.
Advertisement
Intense security surrounded the complex
Throughout its history, the facility was heavily guarded, with fortifications surrounding the grounds.
The exterior of the prison was patrolled by a detachment of 200 troops from the military, with an additional 250 soldiers from military intelligence and the military police responsible for interior security, according to the 2022 report from AMDSP.
Troops from the 21st Brigade of the army's Third Division were chosen to defend the prison because of their strong loyalty to the regime. Soldiers were commanded by officers from President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority.
Since the downfall of the Assad regime, civilians have been urged to avoid rushing through the perimeter of the prison. Rights groups say the exterior of the complex is known to be heavily mined. A ring of anti-tank munitions runs around the exterior of the prison, with a secondary ring of anti-personnel mines running through the centre of the facility.
Images released by the White Helmets - a Syrian civil defence group - showed high walls topped with barbed wire also surrounding the complex. Guard towers can also be seen dotted around the facility.
The Assad regime always denied the accusations levelled against it by international organisation, calling them "baseless" and "devoid of truth".
Amnesty says for families who suspect their relatives have been held in Saydnaya the fall of the regime "raises the prospect that they could finally discover the fate of their missing loved ones, in some cases decades later".
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