Syria is killing prisoners and burning bodies in secret crematorium, US reveals

The US has outright accused the Syrian government of killing thousands of prisoners and burning all of their bodies in a secret, large-scale crematorium.

Donald Trump’s administration has accused Bashar al-Assad of burning the dead bodies in a massive, specially built furnace in a prison complex ouside the capital Damascus.

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The State Department said some 50 detainees a day are being hanged at Saydnaya military prison, which is around 45 minutes from the city.

It added that the crematorium is being used to hide evidence of the shocking extent of the killings.

Newly declassified photographs appear to show what the State Department says is a building in the prison complex that has been modified to support the crematorium.

Stuart Jones, the top US diplomat for the Middle East who presented the photographs, said that Assad’s government ‘has sunk to a new level of depravity’ with the support of Russia and Iran.

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He called on both countries to use their influence with Syria to establish a credible ceasefire, and begin political talks.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained at the prison over the course of the country’s six-year civil war.

Releasing the photographs, Jones said: ‘We believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison.’

The satellite images show what it said is a building in the prison complex that has been modified to support a large-scale crematorium.

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Although the photos, taken over several years starting from 2013, do not definitively prove the building is a crematorium, they do show construction consistent with such use.

One photograph taken in January 2015 shows one area of the building’s roof cleared of snow due to melting.

Jones also said that the US has ‘reason to be sceptical’ about a deal to set up ‘de-escalation zones’ that was brokered by Russia during ceasefire talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, last week.

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JUST NOW: Bomb blast kills dozens of evacuees in Syria

A huge car bomb has blasted a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from government-held towns in Syria, killing at least 39 people, state media report.

It shattered coaches and set cars on fire, leaving a trail of bodies including children, as the convoy waited in rebel territory at Rashidin.

Russian troops have reportedly moved to shield rebel evacuees from retaliation.
Thousands of evacuees from both sides of Syria's civil war have been stuck in hostile territory since Friday.

The "Four Towns" deal was meant to relieve suffering in areas under siege.
Some 30,000 besieged people would be taken out of two rebel-held towns and two under government control but, according to AFP news agency, up to 5,000 government evacuees and 2,200 from rebel towns are now stranded.

Last month, the UN described the situation in the pro-government north-western towns of Foah and Kefraya, and the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus, as "catastrophic".
More than 64,000 civilians are "trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation", it said.

The bomb reportedly went off around 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) at the checkpoint where the handover was due to take place.

Syrian state media reported 39 deaths while the 24Aleppo news site quoted its own source as saying 60 civilians had been killed.

A suicide bomber driving a van supposedly carrying aid supplies blew it up near the coaches, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports. Read Full Story