As Syrians celebrated the downfall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, many embarked on a desperate quest to find missing family members who had been forcibly disappeared under his brutal rule. The focus turned to the infamous Saydnaya prison, a symbol of arbitrary detention, torture, and death. Crowds gathered outside the facility, located north of Damascus, with traffic jams stretching for miles as people walked uphill past barbed wire fences and watchtowers.
Just as Assad's opulent palaces showcased the family's lavish lifestyle, his prisons revealed the atrocities endured by Syrians for decades. Dating back to the 1970s, the regime's detention centers served as black holes where perceived opponents vanished. Saydnaya, dubbed 'the slaughterhouse,' witnessed the hanging of up to 13,000 individuals between 2011 and 2015.
Following the rebels' advance towards Damascus, Saydnaya became a primary target. With Assad ousted and seeking refuge in Russia, images emerged of prisoners being freed, prompting families to turn to social media for help in locating their missing loved ones. Rumors circulated that thousands remained imprisoned in the underground 'red section' of the prison, spurring many Syrians to take matters into their own hands and storm the facility.
