Syria Prison Crematory Is Hiding Mass Executions, U.S. Says<br />By GARDINER HARRIS and ANNE BARNARDMAY 15, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — The State Department released satellite images on Monday<br />that officials said showed that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has built a crematory at a military prison outside Damascus to hide a large number of executions.<br />Stuart E. Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said officials believed<br />that the crematory had been constructed so that little evidence exists of the thousands of people who are executed every year at the Sednaya Prison complex.<br />The timing of the public announcement suggested that the Trump administration was pressing a tougher political line on Syria,<br />and seeking to embarrass Russia and Iran — which have supported the Assad government — in an effort to press the Syrian leadership to engage in substantive negotiations.<br />Satellite photographs of the complex show that while nearby buildings were covered in snow, the roof of the<br />building suspected to be a crematory was free of snow, suggesting a significant internal heat source.<br />Mr. Jones said that prisoners had in the past been buried in mass graves, but<br />that a crematory could dispose of bodies without leaving evidence behind.<br />The allegations also surfaced as momentum builds on several court cases being prepared in<br />Europe in an attempt to hold Syrian government officials accountable for war crimes.
