Mass grave found in Syria as thousands look to leave the country

The bodies of more than 200 people thought to have been killed by Islamic State militants were discovered by their relatives in a mass grave in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

Discovered in the desert near al-Kashkiyeh area, the vast majority of those found were civilians, bringing the number of Shaitat tribal members killed by IS to more than 900, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

Al-Shaitat, a Sunni tribe with 70,000 members, fought fiercely against IS after militants from the group arrived in Deir Ezzor this July. By August, IS fighters had massacred hundreds of people as survivors fled the area.

The tribespeople discovered the grave when they returned to their villages recently after months of displacement having lost their battle against IS. The Observatory said that hundreds more members of the Shaitat tribe are still missing.

They were allowed to return only after agreeing to respect an IS-imposed curfew, as well as a prohibition on gatherings and weapons.

The discovery of the mass grave in eastern Syria where IS controls large swathes of territory comes as the Syrian government continues talks with a UN peace envoy over a possible “freeze” in fighting there.

UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura proposed to the Security Council on 30 October the implementation of “freeze” zones, or local ceasefires in the country, which has suffered nearly four years of civil war.

There are several thorny issues involved. The government wants to limit the freeze to Aleppo city, while the rebels want to extend it all the way up to the Turkish border.

De Mistura’s spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP: “We continue to negotiate, including through giving parties to the conflict maps and supporting material that help explain how are we going to make the freeze in Aleppo operational.”

A government source said the UN wants to open crossing points between the rebel and government-held sides of Aleppo that would be guarded by UN peacekeepers.

But the government believes such a force would be an infringement of Syria’s sovereignty.

Increase in passport applications

Syria’s passport office this week announced a sharp rise in passport applications since the conflict broke out nearly four years ago.

“A thousand passport applications are being made a day in Damascus and its province, including 200 by people aged under 18,” said a passport authority official quoted by Al-Watan daily.

In the past two months alone, 60,000 applications have been made, out of 160,000 since the start of 2014, the official added.

“All processes have been simplified in order to make it easier for citizens to obtain their passports,” he said.

Al-Watan said the spike “shows that for many Syrians, leaving (the country) is the only solution” when faced with a war that has killed more than 200,000 people.

One in two Syrians is unemployed. Nearly half the population have fled their homes, with more than three million Syrians registered as UN refugees in neighbouring states.