Local authorities affiliated with the Kurds in northern Syria announced on Thursday July 28 the discovery of a mass grave with at least 29 bodies, victims probably executed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), according to an NGO.
"
At least 29 bodies including those of a woman and two children were discovered in a mass grave
" near the Manbij hotel, transformed into a prison by IS during its reign between 2014 and 2016, said a source in the local council of Manbij, a city located in the province of Aleppo.
According to a statement from the city's military council, the mass grave was discovered on Wednesday during work carried out by the municipality near the hotel in the city center.
The bodies were decomposed and some "
had their hands handcuffed and blindfolded
", according to the same source.
Dozens of graves discovered since 2019
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the remains found probably belong to people abducted or arrested by IS fighters.
The jihadist organization had taken control of Manbij in early 2014, before the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by Washington, succeeded in driving it out of the region after fierce fighting in the summer of 2016. had conquered vast regions in Iraq and Syria in 2014, establishing a self-proclaimed "
caliphate
" straddling the two countries, before being defeated there respectively in 2017 and 2019.
Dozens of mass graves have been discovered in Syria and Iraq since the defeat of IS, but the process of identifying victims is slow, expensive and complicated.
NGOs including Human Rights Watch (HRW) have repeatedly urged the Kurdish authorities and the Syrian government to investigate the fate of thousands of people missing in the territories controlled by IS.
Read alsoThe leader of the Islamic State group in Syria killed in an American drone strike
HRW and other human rights organizations have also called on the international community, including the US-led coalition, to provide financial and technical assistance to local teams working in mass graves.
Since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, almost half a million people have been killed and around half of the pre-war population has been displaced.
