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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Belgium has banned aircraft transporting weapons and military equipment to Israel from using its airspace or making technical stops, the Foreign Ministry confirmed to Anadolu on Friday.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of making “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about Nato forces in Afghanistan, saying the comments wrongly diminish the sacrifice of British and allied troops and should be followed by an apology.
Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian officials are meeting in Abu Dhabi for their first-ever trilateral talks on the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine.
Italy’s legendary couturier Valentino was laid to rest in Rome on Friday (23 January), drawing designers, actors and industry leaders to a ceremony marked by quiet emotion and flashes of his signature red.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States has an "armada" heading toward Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear programme.
A commuter train collided with a construction crane in southeastern Spain on Thursday (22 January), injuring several passengers, days after a high-speed rail disaster in Andalusia killed at least 43 people.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Türkiye opposes any form of foreign intervention in Iran, as protests and economic pressures continue to fuel tensions in the Islamic republic.
Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ), has signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement worth up to $1.4 billion with Brookfield Asset Management on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, officials said.
A fire alarm prompted the partial evacuation of the Davos Congress Centre on Wednesday evening while Donald Trump was inside the building attending the World Economic Forum, Swiss authorities said.
Sanctum is a documentary about faith preserved through respect, and history protected through responsibility.
Belgium has banned aircraft transporting weapons and military equipment to Israel from using its airspace or making technical stops, the Foreign Ministry confirmed to Anadolu on Friday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has suspended operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan, just a day after a reactor was brought back online for the first time in more than a decade.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of making “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about Nato forces in Afghanistan, saying the comments wrongly diminish the sacrifice of British and allied troops and should be followed by an apology.
In the snowy peaks of Davos, where the world’s most powerful leaders gather for the 56th World Economic Forum, a new narrative is emerging that challenges the current dominance of artificial intelligence (AI).
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