Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers at site of suspected mass killings

Damascus district littered with bones as residents describe years of killings there

DAMASCUS - A hip bone in a blown-out building, part of a spine amid some debris, and a few foot bones in a worn-out sock. The Tadamon district of Damascus is littered with bones, after what residents and rights groups described as years of killings there under the rule of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Tadamon became infamous after a video emerged in 2022 showing a man in military fatigues leading unarmed, blindfolded men towards a large ditch, telling them to run and shooting them at point-blank range as they neared the edge, or after they fell in.

The incident took place in 2013, but the killings went on until very recently, residents told Reuters, saying they had regularly seen Syrian security forces take men to the area, heard bursts of gunshots and smelled burning flesh afterwards.

Mr Mohammad al-Darra, an elderly man from Tadamon, said he had stayed in the neighbourhood after the civil war began in 2011 because his family members were afraid their flat would be looted.

He said that year after year, he saw cars driven by Syrian armed forces take "tied-up people" to a tiny alley parallel to where the Tadamon massacre is thought to have taken place.

"At night, you would hear it," he said. "Every shot fired went into a man." Pointing to the dirt street and the gutted-out buildings, he added: "And this was the graveyard for all the corpses."