Syrian government troops unearth mass grave near capital Damascus

Syrian government forces excavate a mass grave near the northern city of Raqqah on February 16, 2018. (Photo by Syria’s official news agency SANA)

Syrian government forces have discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of dozen people executed by members of foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups near the country’s capital Damascus.

Syrian Forensic Medicine General Director Zaher Hajo said on Thursday the Syrian soldiers made the discovery in the recently-liberated town of Douma, located about 10 kilometers northeast of Damascus, and that the grave contained 112 corpses, Arabic-language al-Baath Media news website reported.

Hajo added that the victims had most likely been killed during heavy clashes in the former militant stronghold nearly two weeks ago.

He further said that the corpses were transported overnight to a forensic department to undergo identification process, stressing that a nine-strong team, including six dentists, had been formed to that end.

The Syrian army on April 14 declared the liberation of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, after the last pockets of militants from the so-called Jaish al-Islam group and their families left the area.

The militants and their relatives were fully evacuated to the militant-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria.

Early on April 14, the United States, Britain and France carried out a string of airstrikes against Syria over a suspected chemical attack against Douma. Washington and its allies blamed Damascus for the suspected assault.

This photo released on April 14, 2018, on the Twitter page of the Syrian government’s central military media shows an explosion on the outskirts of Damascus after Western strikes reportedly hit Syrian military sites in and around the capital.

The Syrian government strongly denied the allegation and called on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission for investigations.

However, the US and its allies carried out the strike on the day the mission just arrived in Damascus.

The Pentagon said in a statement that at least 58 missiles had struck Shayrat air base in the western Syrian city of Homs. An unnamed US official said Tomahawk missiles were used in the strikes. 

The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force said four Tornado GR4s fighter jets had joined the operation, while France said it had deployed Mirage and Rafale fighter jets. 

Russian General Staff spokesman General Sergei Rudskoy, however, said Syrian air defense systems had intercepted at least 71 cruise missiles fired during the US-led aggression.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow on the day of the airstrikes, Rudskoy said at least 103 cruise missiles, including Tomahawks, had been fired into a number of targets in Syria.

“Russia has fully restored the air defense system of Syria, and it continues to improve it over the last six months,” he said.