Türkiye Compiles War Crimes Dossier on Assad Regime

The official report details years of chemical attacks, mass killings, torture, and disappearances, urging international accountability for Syria’s conflict

By Abdullahi Yusuf

Türkiye’s Human Rights and Equality Institution (TIHEK) has published a detailed report documenting widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the former Bashar Assad regime during Syria’s civil war.

According to Daily Sabah, the findings are based on field investigations and direct testimonies provided by victims and survivors.

Assad ruled Syria from 2000 until 2024, succeeding his father Hafez Assad, who governed the country for three decades.

According to TIHEK, the report aims to preserve evidence of violations committed over more than a decade of conflict, record victim testimony, and support international accountability efforts. 

The institution said documenting such crimes is both a legal and moral obligation under international law.

The findings include evidence of the regime’s use of chemical weapons, enforced disappearances, systematic torture, extrajudicial executions, and mass killings targeting civilians.

TIHEK said these practices were widespread and carried out in an organized manner across multiple regions of Syria.

As part of its investigation, TIHEK conducted interviews in Gaziantep with representatives of Syrian human rights groups, including organizations representing former detainees and families of the disappeared from Saydnaya Prison. Survivors also provided firsthand accounts of abuses they endured.

Investigators carried out field visits to Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Homs, and Hama, inspecting former detention sites such as Saydnaya Prison and al-Balouna Military Prison. 

The team also documented mass grave locations, including Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province, where thousands of victims are believed to be buried.

Testimonies were collected from forcibly displaced civilians, survivors of aerial bombardments, victims of chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta, as well as paramedics and civil defense workers involved in rescue operations. 

One of the deadliest incidents cited was the chemical attack on Eastern Ghouta on August 21, 2013, which killed more than 1,400 civilians, including women and children.

The report estimates that around 600,000 people were killed between 2011 and 2024, nearly half of them civilians. Witnesses described a deliberate strategy of depopulating opposition-held areas through barrel bombs, cluster munitions, and chemical weapons.

A significant section of the report focuses on Saydnaya Prison, where former detainees described routine torture, inhumane conditions, and near-daily executions. TIHEK detailed methods including beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, starvation, and denial of medical care.

TIHEK concluded that the Assad regime committed systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and urged the international community to pursue accountability through international justice mechanisms and universal jurisdiction.

With additional information from Daily Sabah

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