Search teams have recovered 175 bodies from mass grave in the Damascus suburb of Otaiba, Syrian authorities confirmed.

The site was discovered earlier this week by residents who alerted officials. The remains are believed to include civilians and opposition fighters killed in a February 2014 ambush by forces loyal to then-president Bashar al-Assad, as people tried to flee the besieged enclave of eastern Ghouta.

Officials said only bodies near the surface had so far been removed. Amer Fahed, a commander with the White Helmets civil defence group, said excavation of the site would not begin until procedures are set by the National Commission for Missing Persons. Ammar al-Issa, an official with the commission, added that the number of victims could be higher, with estimates ranging between 200 and 300.

Families of the disappeared gathered at the site in search of clues. Some said they recognised clothing among the recovered belongings. 

The discovery is one of several mass graves uncovered across Syria since Assad’s ouster in December 2024, when a rebel offensive ended his nearly 25-year rule and the Baath Party’s decades-long dominance.

Syria’s interim government, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa, established the National Commission for Missing Persons in May to investigate cases of detention and disappearance. Rights groups estimate that about 150,000 people were detained or went missing between 2011 and 2024, many of them feared to be buried in unmarked graves.

Families of the disappeared continue to stage demonstrations demanding accountability and faster progress in uncovering the fate of their loved ones.

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