Syrian authorities have uncovered a mass grave containing the remains of civilians east of Homs.
The discovery, made on Saturday in the Al-Mukharram area of rural eastern Homs, came after local residents alerted authorities to suspicious burial sites near a former pro-Assad militia-run prison.
Security forces reportedly found more than nine bodies in the area, though the total number of victims is still being determined as excavations continue.
The remains were located near the village of Abu Hakfa, where a prison operated by the National Defence Forces – a militia created to support Bashar al-Assad during the civil war – was discovered last week.
Journalist Mohammed Al-Homsi told The New Arab’s Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the bodies are believed to belong to civilians killed during the years of Assad regime control over the area.
“Security forces found more than nine sets of human remains belonging to civilians killed in the area during the rule of the Assad regime,” he said. “The bodies were discovered near Abu Hakfa village, where a prison had been used by local gangs in Al-Mukharram to kidnap and torture civilians.”
Al-Homsi added that one of the residents had alerted authorities to the location of the remains.
“Security forces quickly began inspecting wells in the area after receiving information that they had been used to hide civilian bodies,” he explained. “Several wells were opened, and also contained human remains.” He said that specialised recovery teams have now joined security forces in exhuming the bodies.
According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, bones belonging to children were among those discovered. Syrian state newspaper Al-Thawra reported in a video statement that the total number of bodies remains unknown, citing ongoing search operations.
It added that “a shepherd working nearby informed the authorities about the site where the remains were found”.
The site lies close to a detention facility previously operated by the National Defence Forces, a militia long accused by rights groups of carrying out abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings on behalf of the Assad regime.
The discovery follows a series of similar finds since the fall of the Assad regime, as security forces and residents uncover mass graves across government-held areas. Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that dozens of burial sites have been identified, containing civilians allegedly killed by regime forces and allied militias.
In mid-September, residents in Damascus’s Yarmouk Camp also found human remains in a building near the site of the notorious 2013 Al-Tadamon massacre.
The Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets) said in a statement that “specialised teams searching for missing persons with the Syrian Civil Defence responded on Sunday, September 14, 2025, to a report of human remains found in a building in the Al-Tadamon district, during renovation work carried out by one of the residents”.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the identities of the victims and whether the newly discovered mass grave is linked to other sites dating back to the height of the conflict.
