Damascus: A chilling investigation by Reuters has unveiled a covert Syrian government operation, code-named “Operation Move Earth,” aimed at concealing mass atrocities committed during the rule of Bashar al-Assad. From 2019 to 2021, the Assad regime exhumed thousands of bodies from a known mass grave near Qutayfah, north of Damascus, and relocated them to a remote desert site near Dhumair, in an attempt to erase evidence of war crimes.
According to multiple witnesses — including truck drivers, mechanics, and military insiders — nightly convoys of aging Mercedes trucks transported decomposed corpses, many of them naked, bound, and blindfolded, under extreme secrecy. Participants were warned of death if they spoke. The operation followed Russian advice to Assad in 2018, urging him to eliminate evidence of human rights abuses amid growing international pressure.
Colonel Mazen Ismandar, known among insiders as Assad’s “master of cleansing,” allegedly oversaw the operation. As the military medical services’ finance head, Ismandar’s name appears on documents linking prison deaths and hospital transfers to the graves.
Satellite imagery shows Qutayfah’s original site — 16 mass graves totaling over 1.2 km — was gradually emptied beginning in 2019. Simultaneously, the Dhumair site expanded dramatically to include at least 34 trenches, stretching nearly 2 km — an area larger than 16 football fields. Forensic geologists confirmed soil from both sites match, supporting accounts of body transfers.
Witnesses described the stench that lingered on clothes and trucks. One mechanic said he regularly saw both fresh and decayed bodies, some appearing to be children.
An estimated 2,600 convoys suggest tens of thousands were reburied in Dhumair. The site remains unmarked, with bones reportedly visible on the surface. Syria’s new government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa has since sealed the area but faces major challenges in identifying remains.
With over 160,000 Syrians still missing since the Assad dynasty began in 1970, the operation underscores the regime’s efforts to destroy evidence and evade accountability — and the long road ahead for justice and closure.
