In the cold of Syria, people are looking for their loved ones who were killed by the Assad regime Syrian War News

Mohammad Chaeeb spoke softly on his phone, telling his relative the sad news: he found his brother in the cold of Al-Mujtahid Hospital.

“I saw him and said goodbye,” he said. He stared at the black corpse of Sami Chaeeb, his teeth bared and eye sockets empty. It was like dying to scream. “He doesn’t look normal. He doesn’t even have eyes.”

The deceased was arrested five months ago, disappeared in a dark prison under the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. His body is one of many found in jails and prisons in Syria since the fall of Assad’s government last weekend.

Next to it, intelligence officers worked quickly to identify the bodies and hand them over to the relatives.

Yasser Qasser, a research assistant at the morgue, said that they found 40 bodies in the morning from the hospital, fingerprints and genetic samples were taken.

The workers have identified about eight bodies, he said. “But a lot of families are coming, and the numbers are not the same.”

Some bodies came out of the notorious Sednaya prison, still wearing the prisoners’ uniforms, Qasser said.

His colleague, Dr. Abdallah Youssef, said that revealing them all will take time.

“We understand the suffering of the families, but we are working under a lot of pressure. The bodies were found in salt chambers, in freezing cold,” he said.

Morgue officials who examined the bodies saw bullet wounds and marks that appeared to be the result of torture, he added.

An estimated 150,000 people have been arrested or reported missing in Syria since 2011 when peaceful anti-government protests turned into war. Under al-Assad’s regime, any outburst of dissent can quickly send someone to prison. For years, it was a death sentence, as few ever got out of the system.

Citing the testimony of freed prisoners and prison officials, Amnesty International reported that thousands of Syrians were killed en masse.

Prisoners were regularly tortured, severely beaten and raped. Prisoners often died from injuries, disease or starvation. Some suffered from psychosis and starved themselves, said the human rights organization.

Among the dead bodies on Wednesday is Mazen al-Hamada, a Syrian activist who fled to Europe but returned to Syria in 2020 and was arrested upon arrival. His bloody body was found wrapped in a bloody sheet in Sednaya.

Hilala Meryeh, a 64-year-old Palestinian mother of four, stood in a grim identification room, body bags piled up around her. He had just received one of his sons.

Four of his boys were arrested by the former Syrian regime in 2013 during an operation in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. He still needed to get three.

“I don’t know where they are,” he said. “Give me my children, seek my children!”

Some Syrians, like Imad Habbal, stood motionless in the cold, realizing the truth and injustice of their loss.

Habbal stared at the body of his brother, Diaa Habbal.

“We arrived yesterday and found him dead,” he said. “Kill them.” Why? What was his crime? What have you ever done? Just because he returned to his country?”

Diaa Habbal, a Syrian who lived in Saudi Arabia since 2003, returned to Damascus in mid-2024 to visit her family, her brother said. He was arrested by Syrian military police six months ago on charges of desertion.

With trembling hands, Imad Habbal lifted the cover, his voice cracking as he cried and spoke to his brother.

“I told you not to come,” she said. “I wish you didn’t come.”