Newsletters
A report released by the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye (TIHEK) says the former Bashar Assad regime committed widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity during Syria’s civil war, citing field investigations and direct testimonies from victims.
Published on the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad government, the report aims to document violations committed over more than a decade, preserve evidence and victim memory, and support international accountability efforts.
Syrian opposition forces entered Damascus on Dec. 8, 2024, ending the rule of Bashar Assad, who governed Syria from 2000 until 2024 after succeeding his father, Hafez Assad, president from 1970 to 2000.
TIHEK said the report was prepared by a dedicated investigative team operating on the principle that international investigation into such crimes is both a legal and moral obligation.
As part of the documentation process, TIHEK investigators conducted interviews in Gaziantep with representatives of Syrian human rights organizations, including the Association of Detainees and the Disappeared of Saydnaya Prison.
Victims also provided firsthand accounts of abuses.
The team carried out field visits to Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Homs and Hama, inspecting detention facilities such as Saydnaya Prison and al-Balouna Military Prison.
Investigators also documented mass grave sites, including Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province, where an estimated 16,000 people are believed to have been buried.
The report presents testimonies and material evidence indicating the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, as well as enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions and mass killings targeting civilians.
Witnesses described chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta and Khan Shaykhun that killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds, most of them children, through the use of sarin gas.
On Aug. 21, 2013, regime forces carried out a chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta that killed more than 1,400 civilians, including hundreds of women and children.
Witnesses said regime forces later bombed affected areas with barrel bombs to destroy evidence.
A civil defense official in Douma told investigators that entire neighborhoods were flattened to prevent forensic teams from collecting proof.
One of the most detailed sections of the report focuses on Saydnaya Prison, where former detainees described systematic torture, inhumane detention conditions and near-daily executions.
Former prisoners said executions were carried out at night and that detainees were forced to listen as death sentences were read aloud.
One witness described a “salt room,” where bodies were left to decompose due to the lack of burial facilities.
The report details torture methods including suspension by limbs, beatings with cables, confinement in rubber tires, electric shocks, sexual violence and prolonged deprivation of food and medical care.
The report states that the Assad regime disregarded Syria’s 2012 Constitution and its obligations under international conventions, resulting in an estimated 600,000 deaths since 2011, nearly half of them civilians.
Witnesses told investigators that the regime pursued a deliberate strategy of depopulating opposition-held areas using barrel bombs, cluster munitions and chemical weapons.
A displaced civilian living in camps in Azaz said residents fled intense bombardments during winter with little more than the clothes they were wearing, while those attempting to escape were fired upon.
TIHEK concluded that the Assad regime committed widespread and systematic violations between 2011 and 2024, including mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, the use of banned weapons and the destruction of civilian areas.
The institution urged the international community and U.N. member states to prosecute those responsible through international justice mechanisms and the principle of universal jurisdiction.
It also called for independent criminal investigations into chemical attacks attributed to the former regime.
1 min read
1 min read
