Reuters Investigation: Assad’s Regime Moved Thousands of Bodies to Hidden Desert Graves

A Reuters investigation has uncovered new evidence that Bashar al-Assad’s government secretly transferred thousands of bodies from a mass grave in Qutayfah, near Damascus, to a hidden burial site in Syria’s Dhumair desert between 2019 and 2021.

Working with forensic geologists, Reuters used drone photography and soil analysis to compare the two grave sites without disturbing them. Thousands of high-resolution drone images revealed matching soil color patterns — supporting witness accounts that the bodies were relocated as part of a covert operation called “Move Earth.”

Witnesses including drivers, soldiers, and engineers described how convoys moved corpses to conceal evidence of wartime killings. Satellite imagery and official documents also corroborated the operation.

Experts said that while soil comparison strengthens the link between the two sites, only physical sampling and exhumation can fully confirm the transfer and reveal the true number of victims.

The Dhumair mass grave represents one of Syria’s darkest secrets — echoing past efforts, like those in Bosnia’s Srebrenica, to hide the scale of mass killings through systematic relocation of bodies.