Human remains found in Damascus drug warehouse

DAMASCUS, Syria

Civil Defense teams in Damascus are investigating human remains found in a warehouse in the Sayyidah Zaynab district on Wednesday.

The remains are believed to belong to more than 20 people, including children.

The discovery comes as mass graves and remains continue to be uncovered in Syria after the collapse of the Baath regime.

Ammar Selmo, a member of the Civil Defense Administration, told Anadolu that the warehouse was originally thought to be a drug storage facility.

However, they discovered it had been used to store decaying bodies and skeletons.

The team is working to document the remains and determine the number of victims.

DNA tests will be conducted on the remains.

Selmo noted that the Sayyidah Zaynab area, before the regime's fall, was home to an Iranian militia headquarters.

He said: "We don’t know where these people were detained or how they died."

Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.

*Writing by Beril Canakci in Istanbul