Syrian rebels discovered a horrifying scene of imprisonment and torture at the notorious Saydnaya military prison near Damascus.
According to the New York Post, insurgent forces liberated scores of prisoners, including toddlers and women with young children, from the facility known as the "human slaughterhouse" after dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow amid the rebel takeover of the Syrian capital.
The prison's liberation revealed disturbing evidence of systematic torture and mass executions. Videos shared on social media showed emaciated prisoners in tattered clothing celebrating their release. Amnesty International estimates that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed at the facility between 2011 and 2016 alone.
Prison Horror Chamber Exposed
The rebels discovered an "iron press" allegedly used to crush prisoners' bodies after execution by hanging. According to a Syrian journalist's account, the hydraulic device would pulverize victims' bones into powder, with containers positioned below to collect blood during the gruesome process.
The White Helmets, a Syrian civil defense group, deployed five specialized emergency teams to search for additional prisoners potentially hidden in underground cells. They are working with guides familiar with the facility's layout to access sealed areas where surveillance monitors indicate more than 100,000 detainees may still be trapped.
The Damascus Countryside Governorate has publicly appealed to former regime soldiers and prison guards to provide access codes for electronic underground doors to facilitate the rescue operation.
Systemic Torture Unveiled
The facility's brutal practices were first exposed in 2013 when a Syrian military defector codenamed "Caesar" smuggled out over 53,000 photographs documenting widespread torture, disease, and starvation within the prison system.
According to Lina Khatib from the Chatham House think tank, Assad used the prison system not only to eliminate political opposition but also to instill fear in the Syrian population. One rebel fighter addressing newly freed prisoners stated: "Don't be afraid! … Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?"
The prison's liberation has sparked desperate searches by families looking for loved ones who disappeared into the facility. Many former inmates waited outside the prison, hoping to reunite with relatives they hadn't seen in years.
Freedom Brings Bittersweet Reality
The mass prisoner release comes as part of a broader liberation of government detention facilities across Syria following Assad's overthrow after 13 years of civil war. The rebels accomplished their takeover of Damascus in less than two weeks.
Families continue gathering outside the facility, searching for information about detained relatives. Bassam Masri, who has been looking for his son detained 13 years ago, shared his mixed emotions:
This happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of prison and know where he is. I have been searching for him for two hours. He has been detained for 13 years.
The search efforts remain complicated by sealed underground areas and missing electronic access codes needed to reach all sections of the sprawling facility.
A Dark Chapter Closes
The liberation of Saydnaya military prison marked the end of one of Syria's most notorious detention facilities, where the Assad regime carried out systematic torture and executions of political prisoners for over a decade. With rebels now controlling Damascus after Assad's flight to Moscow, emergency teams continue working to free remaining prisoners from the underground cells while families desperately search for long-lost relatives among those already released.
The facility's exposure has provided concrete evidence of the regime's brutality, including the discovery of torture devices and execution equipment that earned it the name "human slaughterhouse." As Syria enters a new chapter, the full scope of atrocities committed within Saydnaya's walls continues to emerge.
