As Syrian opposition groups settled in Damascus early Sunday morning and officially declared the fall of the Assad regime, hundreds of thousands of individuals have rushed to return to Syria from Türkiye and Lebanon.
In the process, Syrians managed to break into the Assad regime’s many prisons, otherwise known as dungeons between locals, where Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and other individuals remained incarcerated for many years, some up to decades.
The Sednaya Prison
One of the most notorious prisons of the Assad regime is the Sednaya prison, locally known as “the human slaughterhouse.”
Amnesty International has estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 individuals were executed in Sednaya from 2011 to 2015, although little was publicly known about the prison’s inner workings. Torture was one of the tactics reportedly used against prisoners, and was widely documented.
Medical doctors who headed to the prison described that some prisoners are suffering from malnutrition and other chronic illnesses, while skin diseases have spread and some have spent long years without light.
Inside the solitary confinement cells, there was water and mud on the floors. Prisoners were only given a single metal bowl for food, and there were no sanitation facilities. Many reported finding excrement on the floors.
Rooms in Sednaya prison were filled with stacked levels of discarded clothes, shoes and other items.
While many were able to reunite with their families, rumours spread on Sunday suggesting that hundreds or thousands of prisoners remain trapped underground in a labyrinth of three floors of tunnel, with many digging, opening doors and searching for any sign that might lead them to the hidden tunnels where their loved ones are still held.
The Syrian civil defense and other international organizations with advanced equipment have managed to break into many of the prison’s inner chambers and inaccessible underground floors. Some videos emerging from the prison show men digging in the ground using their bare hands.
Among those imprisoned, many were not aware of the Assad regime’s fall as they were completely excluded from any forms of societal life.
Prisoners from All Over the Region
Among the many prisoners freed from the Assad regime’s prison, many were Lebanese and Palestinians, with the fall of the regime dubbed not only a victory for Syrians, but for the Levant overall.
Reportedly, some of those imprisoned include around 60 members of the al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas – alongside many Lebanese individuals. Some were imprisoned for up to four decades, such as Ali Hassan Ali, who was arrested in 1985.
As Syrians, people of the Levant and human rights groups celebrate the fall of Assad, the future of the country remains uncertain.
HTS (Hayat Tahrir al Sham) leader Ahmad al-Sharee’, otherwise known as Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, has confirmed that the group would dissolve and integrate within Syrian political and social institutions. Reports have highlighted that Syrian groups across the country might adopt the UN-based process and undergo a transitional phase of power in the country.
In the meantime, in the southwest, Israeli forces have expanded their strikes on Syria and have invaded the countr under the pretense of forming “a buffer zone” for the occupied Golan heights. Israeli forces have advanced so far and occupied Mount Hermon.
Throughout the last decades, the Assad regime, from Hafez al-Assad’s presidency to his son Bachar, has left the Golan Heights occupied without addressing the Israeli presence. In a speech on Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that the “Golan heights would remain Israeli forever.”
At present, Syrians have expressed hopes and started organizing themselves to be able to rebuild their country with their own hands without foreign interference.