Turkish search team heads to Sednaya prison to help rescue detainees

The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) revealed on Monday that it had sent a search and rescue team to the Syrian capital, Damascus, to participate in the search for detainees in the notorious Sednaya prison.

The authority said in a statement on its account on the "X" platform, "Our search and rescue team consisting of 15 people and a trained dog set off to Damascus to support search and rescue operations for prisoners detained in secret cells in Sednaya prison and to search for mass graves around it in Damascus."

The Syrian opposition coalition based in Turkey said, "We appreciate the direct response from our sister country Turkey to participate in the rescue operations of detainees from Sednaya prison and other secret prisons, and we urge the rest of the sister and friendly countries to send specialized teams to participate in the rescue operations."

Thousands of Syrians gathered in front of Sednaya prison in the Damascus countryside, searching for the fate of their detained relatives, after the fall of the regime and the escape of its president, Bashar al-Assad, to Russia.

A long line of cars stretched seven kilometers along the road leading to the prison, forcing hundreds to walk to reach it. As search operations carried out by humanitarian organizations inside the prison continued, many stayed until late at night waiting to know the fate of their relatives.

Among them was Yousef Matar, 25, who was sitting on a rock near the prison, waiting for news about more than a dozen members of his family who he believed were being held inside.

"They were all arrested by security forces for no reason, just because we are from the city of Daraya," Matar told AFP, one of the first cities to rise up against the Assad regime in 2011, and which witnessed violent battles between opposition factions and government forces.

"I have been here since yesterday and I will stay here until I find any news, whether they are alive or dead," Matar added.

Earlier on Monday, the director of the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets), Raed al-Saleh, announced that five specialized teams are searching for the possibility of secret doors or basements in the Sednaya prison in the countryside of the capital, Damascus.

Al-Saleh said in a tweet on the "X" platform (formerly Twitter): "Five specialized teams from the Syrian Civil Defense have been working for hours searching for the possibility of the existence of secret doors or basements in Sednaya prison, despite conflicting information."

He added: "We opened several areas inside the prison, including the kitchen and the oven, but we have not found anything yet."
It is noteworthy that more than 100,000 people have died in the regime's prisons since 2011, most of them due to torture, according to estimates by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Statistics from the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison indicate that 30,000 people have been detained since the outbreak of the conflict, only 6,000 of whom have been released, while the rest are considered missing. In rare cases, families are informed of the death of their loved ones, without being given the bodies.

Arabic 21