Damascus Airport Rebuild Risks Disturbing Assad-Era Mass Graves
Syria's new authorities are pushing forward with plans to turn the former Mezzeh military airport in Damascus into a hub for private jets, a move that rights groups and local residents warn could disturb suspected mass graves and trample on decades-old private land claims. The redevelopment is fast becoming a test of whether the post-Assad leadership can balance its drive for investment with the unresolved wounds of a brutal dictatorship.
What are the plans for Mezzeh military airport?
Syria's civil aviation authority announced last week that it was preparing to reclassify Mezzeh for limited civilian use, focusing on private and executive aviation to complement Damascus International Airport. According to the state news agency SANA, rubble removal and infrastructure upgrades have already begun at the site.
Why is the airport linked to mass graves?
Under Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez, Mezzeh was far more than an airfield. It housed key branches of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Directorate and numerous detention facilities where suspected government opponents were tortured, executed, or subjected to enforced disappearance.
Documents obtained by the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC), a US-based Syrian-led human rights group, and shared with Reuters, reveal that senior military officials approved Mezzeh in 2012 as a site for executions of detainees sentenced by military field courts. One document proposed moving executions from Sednaya, the country's most notorious prison, to Mezzeh because it was a closed security compound close to Damascus. Officials even ordered construction of a platform at a hangar, requested nylon rope, and directed the work be carried out under Air Force Intelligence supervision in utmost secrecy.
A 2025 SJAC investigation identified two suspected grave sites linked to people who died in detention at Mezzeh, where more than 1,150 detainees perished, some by execution and others through torture or maltreatment.
What are rights groups demanding?
SJAC provided Syria's National Commission for Missing Persons with the coordinates of the two suspected graves in July 2025, urging authorities to prevent construction until the sites were investigated. At the time, the commission said there were no construction plans for Mezzeh. After the redevelopment plans emerged, SJAC wrote again on September 8, warning that excavation or rubble removal could damage human remains and evidence crucial to identifying victims. No response has yet been received.
Amer Matar, founder of the Syria Prisons Museum, a Germany-based NGO documenting detention facilities, condemned the project in stark terms. To construct a business airport on a site that may contain mass graves, without a thorough prior investigation, without site protection, without searching for the missing and their remains, and without preserving evidence, is an act of extreme recklessness and disregard, Matar told Reuters.
How do residents view the land dispute?
The land itself is another flashpoint. Mezzeh airport was built on territory belonging to hundreds of private citizens across 2.76 square kilometers, according to land records from the Moadamiya municipality. A former municipal official told Reuters that expropriation decrees retroactively justified the government's use of the land when the airport was built in 1956, and that compensation was never paid.
Residents demonstrated in Moadamiya the day after the redevelopment was announced. We welcome investment, but we should be sitting at the table and discussing our share with investors, not the state, said protest organiser Abu Khaled. We have a documented right to this land.
The dispute echoes a broader challenge facing Syria. On September 2, United Nations land rights experts appealed to the government to suspend and repeal laws that enabled systematic property dispossession under Assad, and to establish mechanisms for returning properties or providing adequate compensation.
What happens next for the airport project?
The Syrian civil aviation authority, the National Commission for Missing Persons, and the defense ministry, which has been operating the airport, did not respond to questions from Reuters about suspected graves and land claims. SANA cited a spokesperson saying the refurbishment would take into account the surrounding urban area and relevant legal and social issues, but made no mention of the graves or land rights. It remains unclear who will ultimately develop the airport.
For the families of the missing, the clock is ticking. Every day of construction without investigation risks destroying the only evidence that could bring closure to thousands of Syrian families. For the new authorities, the choice is stark: pursue a quick investment win, or honor the dead and the dispossessed who paid the price of Assad's tyranny.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Mezzeh airport historically significant?
Mezzeh served as a central hub for Syria's Air Force Intelligence Directorate under the Assad dynasty, housing detention facilities where opponents were tortured and executed. Documents show senior officials approved it as an execution site in 2012.
How many detainees died at Mezzeh?
A 2025 investigation by SJAC found that more than 1,150 detainees died at Mezzeh, some by execution and others through torture or maltreatment. Two suspected grave sites have been identified inside the airport.
What are residents demanding regarding the land?
Residents of Moadamiya, whose land was expropriated without compensation when the airport was built in 1956, are demanding a seat at the negotiating table with investors. They hold documented rights to the land and want their share recognized.