More Bodies Found in Syrian Suburb; Opposition Blames Government
More residents were killed in the Syrian town of Dariya on Sunday, opposition activists said, even as the scope of the previous days’ bloodshed was still coming into focus.
More than 100 new bodies were discovered Sunday in the suburb of the capital, Damascus, as government forces withdrew to the town’s outskirts and residents were able to begin searching more thoroughly, activists said. The opposition Damascus Media Office said it has recorded at least 255 victims so far.
As details and grisly images continued to emerge, so did competing narratives — from the opposition and President Bashar Assad’s embattled government — of who was to blame for the carnage.
“We are finding bodies everywhere. What has happened in Dariya is the most appalling of what has happened in the revolution till now, what has happened in Syria till now,” said Abu Kinan, an activist in the town. “The smell of death is everywhere.”
Most of those killed were reportedly taken to the basements of empty buildings and shot execution-style at close range. Most of those killed were men, but many women and children were also among the dead. On Sunday, some neighborhoods raided the day before were raided again by another division of the army, killing more residents, Abu Kinan said.
