The head of Syria's commission for missing persons says more than 300,000 people could have gone missing during decades of Assad family rule.
"Our estimates of the number of missing range between 120,000 and 300,000 people, and it could be more," Mohammed Reda Jalkhi said.
The commission was created in May and Mr Jalkhi said its mandate ranged from 1970, the year Hafez al-Assad took power, to the present day, and had no timeframe for completing its work.
The Assad family ruled until December 2024 when Bashar al-Assad, Hafez al-Assad's son, was ousted as president after 13 years of civil war.
The family's rule was among the most brutal in the region and its prison system, including feared sites such as Saydnaya, was notorious for disappearing people without a trace.
Thousands disappeared during Syrian civil war
Tens of thousands of people were detained or disappeared during the civil war, which erupted in 2011 after Bashar al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
All sides were accused of atrocities, including the Islamic State jihadist group, which seized large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law and committing widespread abuses including executions.
"We have a map that includes more than 63 documented mass graves in Syria," Mr Jalkhi said, without providing details on where they were located, who dug them or who was thought to be buried there.
He said work was underway to establish a data bank for missing persons.
New government says it wants justice for victims of Assad's rule
Syria's transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led an Al Qaeda group before cutting ties with the jihadist network, has pledged justice for victims of atrocities committed under the Assad family's rule.
In January, the president of the International Committee for the Red Cross said determining the fate of those who went missing during the war would be a massive task likely to take years.
Mr Jalkhi said his commission's work was "essential to the process of transitional justice and civil peace", calling the issue of missing persons "one of the most complicated and painful in Syria".
AFP/ABC
