volunteers are here to try to preserve sednaya's records.e here. when dictators and their henchmen fall, making sure they don't take the truth with them is a big part of a better future. it's slow work. runaway! yeah. a runaway guard. in sednaya's cell corridors, you can see how hard it will be to mend the country assad broke. families come here searching for those they've lost. it is estimated more than 100,000 people disappeared since 2011, after being detained by the old regime. the volunteers found that the truth was even worse than they had feared in cells that still stink of misery. translation: it is terrible, terrible. i there are bags of urine on the floor. they couldn't go to the toilet, so they had to put urine in bags. the smell. there is no sun or light. i can't believe people were living like this, when we were breathing normally and living our normal lives. the rubble is left from attempts to find hidden cells. sednaya's basements were the dark heart of the assad regime. it used the fear of this place to coerce and repress the

notorious assad regime in the notorious sednaya prison. and thousands gather for mass in corsica, as pope francis visits the island for the first time. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. it's feared that thousands of people may have been killed by cyclone chido in the french archipelago of mayotte in the indian ocean. a local official has been quoted as saying that the death toll may be in the thousands. residents have spoken of apocalyptic scenes in mayotte. the mayor of the capital, mamoudzou, said nothing had been spared. houses have been destroyed, along with schools and the hospital. french emergency personnel are now on mayotte to assist and the first aid flight has arrived. chido has now reached northern mozambique after picking up strength crossing the mozambique channel. greg mckenzie has this report. the french indian ocean territory of mayotte. cyclone chido made landfall here on saturday. the devastation and aftermath cleared to see entire communities flattened by gusts of more than 140mph. islanders sheltering any way they can. off

volunteers are here to try to preserve sednaya's records.troy what was done here. when dictators and their henchmen fall, making sure they don't take the truth with them is a big part of a betterfuture. it's slow work. runaway! yeah. a runaway guard. in sednaya's cell corridors, you can see how hard it will be to mend the country assad broke. families come here searching for those they've lost. it is estimated more than 100,000 people disappeared since 2011, after being detained by the old regime. the volunteers found that the truth was even worse than they had feared in cells that still stink of misery. translation: it is terrible, terrible. there are bags of urine in on the floor. they couldn't go to the toilet, so they had to put urine in bags. the smell. there is no sun or light. i can't believe people were living like this, when we were breathing normally and living our normal lives. the rubble is left from attempts to find hidden cells. sednaya's basements were the dark heart of the assad regime. it used the fear of this place to coerc

we believe these bodies belong to prisoners who were in sednaya prison.out with rewards for people who have information about any secret prisons they have not discovered yet, and still searching for people who are missing. 0ver still searching for people who are missing. over the past decade, with the rule of the former president bashar al—assad, he used detention and torture to silence people and human rights activists documented over 100,000 forcibly disappeared that the families do not know their whereabouts, and they are still looking for them, while the observatory for human rights 0bservatory for human rights documented at least 60,000 people have been tortured to death inside assad's prisons. as always, thank you forjust bringing us up to date and bringing us up to date and bring across all of that. we are continuing to monitor the situation in syria, a fluid situation. to the united states now and a 26—year—old man has been charged with the murder of a health insurance executive, who was shot dead in a street in new york last week. luigi mangione

syrians called sednaya just outside damascus the slaughterhouse.t weekend, islamic fighters broke in and let the roughly 4,000 prisoners go. on the women's side, you can hear fighter saying "go on, the regime has fallen. go home." sednaya is now empty. but every day, families stream through the gates. they come with photos and memories of brothers, sons, husbands, hoping against hope to find a secret dungeon that might hold a love one alive. that is unlikely. two days ago, the white helmet rescue group carried out excavations that found nothing. the syrian observatory for human rights estimates that the regime had imprisoned over 100,000 people since 2011. were these really for executions? "the nooses found in the cells," he said "where countless people died." the evidence may be here in official prison documents, now ransacked and scattered. so this was a monitoring station? mohannad al ajati, desperate to find out what happened to his brother and dad is devastated. >> we have to save this data here, because we don't know where our prisoners are.

his body, found in sednaya prison, returned to his family today.ed and tortured. exiled in 2013, he chose to speak openly about what he endured. he goes on to describe how he was raped and abused. his sister, lamiya, told us why he returned to syria in 2020, when he was arrested immediately on arrival. translation: the government told him there was an agreement _ and he would be safe. they also told him that his family would be arrested and killed if he didn't come to syria. "we sacrificed our blood and our soul for the revolution," crowds chanted as they took mazen's body along the streets of damascus. this is the freedom he did not live to see. less than a week ago, you couldn't talk openly about activists like mazen hamada. people whose loved ones were disappeared, they couldn't go and ask about where they were. there is no image that reflects this incredible turn of events in syria more than this one, where hundreds of people are able to openly march on the streets for his funeral, calling him a martyr, calling him a hero. and as we've been wal

his body, found in sednaya prison, returned to his family today.part in protests in 2011, was arrested and tortured. exiled in 2013, he chose to speak openly about what he endured. he goes on to describe how he was raped and abused. his sister, lamiya, told us why he returned to syria in 2020, when he was arrested immediately on arrival. translation: the government. told him there was an agreement and he would be safe. they also told him that his family would be arrested and killed if he didn't come to syria. "we sacrificed our blood and our soul for the revolution," crowds chanted as they took mazen�*s body along the streets of damascus. this is the freedom he did not live to see. less than a week ago, you couldn't talk openly about activists like mazen hamada. people whose loved ones were disappeared, they couldn't go and ask about where they were. there is no image that reflects this incredible turn of events in syria more than this one, where hundreds of people are able to openly march on the streets for his funeral, calling him a martyr, calli

his body, found in sednaya prison, returned to his family today.en took part in protests in 2011, was arrested and tortured. exiled in 2013, he chose to speak openly about what he endured. he goes on to describe how he was raped and abused. his sister, lamiya, told us why he returned to syria in 2020, when he was arrested immediately on arrival. translation: the government. told him there was an agreement and he would be safe. they also told him that his family would be arrested and killed if he didn't come to syria. we are happy the regime fell but we wish he was alive to see it. he paid the price for our freedom. i want his killers to be brought to court for justice. "we sacrificed our blood and our soul for the revolution," crowds chanted as they took mazen's body along the streets of damascus. this is the freedom he did not live to see. less than a week ago, you couldn't talk openly about activists like mazen hamada. people whose loved ones were disappeared, they couldn't go and ask about where they were. there is no image that reflects this in

amnesty international, human rights watch and the association of detainees and missing persons in sednayad... — sometimes burned. they say such evidence, is essential for prosecuting those who violated international laws and for the tens of thousands of people who were forcibly disappeared under assad's rule. meanwhile, the kremlin is refuting reports that the british—born wife of deposed syrian president bashar al—assad is seeking a divorce, saying the reports "do not correspond to reality". it comes as several eu countries pause applications from syrians seeking asylum — following the overthrow of the assad regime. international human rights groups have criticised the move as premature. let's bring in the former us ambassador at large for war crime issues in the office of global criminal justice, stephen rapp. thank you so much for being with us on bbc news. you havejust returned from syria, working with a number of groups who were looking into and for evidence of mass graves, torture, other atrocities. just to begin with, give us an impression of what you saw on the ground?— you saw on

the sednaya prison has become a symbol of the atrocities committed by syria's former government.es have been heading there, seeking loved ones — some of whom disappeared years ago. thousands of opposition supporters are believed to have been tortured and killed here. just days ago, rebels freed thousands of prisoners here. hayat tahrir al—sham fighters are seen as heroes for liberating these people. but can a group that has a jihadist past deliver the democratic rule that many here want? this woman says, "they are from our country, they are not islamic state, we are not afraid of them." syria's stability depends for now on the man wearing military clothing — abu mohammed al—jolani, the leader of hayat tahrir al—sham. here, he was meeting the interim prime minister to discuss the way forward. he succeeded in uniting rebel groups and capturing the whole country in under two weeks. he said rewards will be given for information on assad officials involved in war crimes. meanwhile, these syrian refugees in turkey are facing the dilemma of whether to return home to syria. like germany,

amnesty international, human rights watch, and the association of detainees and missing persons in sednaya

alawite sect, which, apparently is what they were trying to do is to arrest one of the officers from sednayah. so a very challenging time and very concerning, not necessarily symptomatic of a wider sectarian breakdown of stability at this point. because people are so aware of the sectarian tensions that there might be and that have been suppressed in syria over the decades, the fears are real that this change of leadership could really provoke all those to flare up again. just talking about the alawite sect itself, perhaps in the past there was the thinking that alawites were loyal to bashar al—assad, he is an alawite, that is not necessarily the case, is it? a lot of alawites were becoming disenfranchised with bashar al—assad even before the start of the revolution in 2011. but the way things unfolded during the civil war meant that alawites felt the only stable way was to stay with the regime. it is telling, in the days immediately after the fall of the regime, the mausoleum which was the core of the assad family power in kandahar, their village, was burnt to the ground and there were no p

amnesty international, human rights watch, and the association of detainees and missing persons in sednayan, visited detention facilities and mass graves after rebels took over the capital. in a joint statement, the groups said, "in all of the detention facilities visited, researchers observed that official documents were often left unprotected, with significant portions looted or destroyed." they say that such evidence is essential for prosecuting those who violated international laws and for the tens of thousands of people who were forcibly disappeared under assad's rule. meanwhile, the kremlin is refuting reports for more on the situation, i've been speaking to the former us ambassador at large for war crime issues in the office of global criminal justice, stephen rapp. you have just returned from syria, working with a number of groups who were looking into and for evidence of mass graves, torture, other atrocities. just to begin with, give us an impression of what you saw on the ground? certainly with these rights groups whom i met with as well, reported on is accurate — there were fam

>> thirteen years now, sednaya. >> thirteen years in the prison? you did not find him here?>> do you have hope that you will find him? >> we do have hope, he said, god willing. >> hope and apprehension are spilling into the streets of damascus. most of this city of about two and a half million people is intact because this was the dictator's stronghold. no one under the age of 54 has ever known freedom, has ever been able to speak of politics above a whisper. that's a tough memory to break. one man told us, “we got assad out of syria now we have to get him out of us.” there was joy in the crowd headed for friday prayers. 75% of syrians are from the largest branch of islam, the sunnis. and the rebel leaders are sunni fundamentalists. but no one knows yet how minority muslim sects and christians will be protected. the leader of the rebels is 42-year-old ahmed al-sharaa. in 2013, the u.s. named him a terrorist and, later, put a 10 million dollar bounty on his head. but so far, al-sharaa has kept order. there's little sign of destruction, looting or reprisals, and government wor

dozens of corpses were found by rescuers searching for survivors at sednaya prison, near damascus.ere common. a monitoring group estimates tens of thousands were killed in the regime's sprawling complexes of detention centres. joining me live is radwan ziadeh, senior fellow at the nonprofit arab centre washington, dc. great to have you on. we've been hearing and seeing these scenes of families searching for their loved ones who went missing during the assault regime, some looking injust these awfuljails and prisons — take us inside that process, how difficult it for some of these families to track down their loved ones? , ., , families to track down their loved ones? , . , ,. , ones? they are terrible stories cominu ones? they are terrible stories coming out _ ones? they are terrible stories coming out from, _ ones? they are terrible stories coming out from, from - ones? they are terrible stories coming out from, from secretl coming out from, from secret prisons, from every town in syria. that's the assad brutality of over 53 years exposed not only to the syrians, but to the world.

leila: the word that has struck terror into the hearts of every syrian for decades -- sednaya.e of pain and abuse where tens of thousands disappeared and few ever emerged again. but now those who feared these walls have breached them, desperately searching for survivors of the deposed presidents nightmarish prison. a sudden swarm. they have heard a sound. this group of family members and fighters have found a steel wall and think they can hear voices behind it. they are searching now and to break through to see if there may be any prisoners behind it still alive. rescue crews have been searching the vast mountain compound for days following rumors of a network of hidden cells underground. pounding through layers of concrete they found nothing. but with tens of thousands more detainees still missing, these families are holding on to that fading hope, and everyone here is determined to leave no stone unturned. outside, more crowds and pleading faces. their 16-year-old son was taken seven years ago. she never heard from him again but the government said he was still alive in jail.

he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons. but to see it up close is something entirely different a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside more and more families stream in the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead. my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now. just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts, i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us to ta

. >> well, some syrians rushed to the notorious sednaya prison in damascus on sunday searching for their loved ones after rebel fighters stormed the prison and released all the detainees. videos show hundreds of men shuffling out of the overcrowded prison known for its inhumane conditions. the rebels were seen breaking down walls with sledgehammers after finding prison cells that appear to be hidden. a 2023 report by the united nations human rights council detailed quote, widespread and systematic patterns of torture and cruel inhuman or degrading treatment in assad's detention facilities south korean prosecutors have banned president yoon suk yeol from traveling overseas amid an investigation into his attempt to impose martial law last week, and potential insurrection charges. president yoon publicly apologized on saturday, but it was too little, too late as his party is set to seek his resignation and they're pushing for his suspension while it only lasted six hours, the emergency declaration caused widespread anger across the country, sparking memories of the decades south korea spent

and the rebels group themselves is reporting that they have that they have been to sednaya prison, that is the main political jail. if you will, in damascus. and they say that they've released all the prisoners there. we don't have a we don't have a way of verifying if that is true, but it's certainly indicative of what we've seen. the rebels do in other cities. homs for example, we've seen pictures of prisoners released from there and said there would be a jail where the assad regime would put their most feared and loathed political prisoners. people languishing in there for years upon years, upon years. so, so people being released from there. again, this just informs us about how much the rebels are beginning to take control of the capital, assad's whereabouts, the president's assad's whereabouts unknown and the the former regime's defenses of the capital melted away all right. >> just remarkable. nic robertson, thank you for your latest reporting. we'll be right back tomorrow on cnn. >> it's a night that's good for the soul. join anderson cooper and laura coates for cnn heroes, an a

those who stayed to fight and whom the regime caught disappeared into sednaya, a notorious military prisonside damascus. some were tortured so severely, the only word he can say today is arabic for aleppo, the prison the crucible of assad's cruelty, the bodies that embody assad's brutality. now assad stands no longer, his legacy smashed, his stature diminished. his army retreated, hollowed out by years of corruption and defections, and assad's previous saviors, iran and its allied militia hezbollah and russia, unwilling and or unable to save him. syria's new apparent leader, ahmed al-shar'a, better known as abu mohammad al-jolani, met today with the prime minister. jolani vows a smooth transition and moderate governance to respect minorities. but he and his group, hay'at tahrir al-sham, or hts, are designated by the u.s. as foreign terrorists. whether they govern for all syrians, whether this country's splinters is unknown. but, for now, these syrians enjoy a new day of freedom and hope the future brings peace. for the "pbs news hour," i'm nick schifrin. geoff: u.s. officials say they are

. >> the stream of families never stops climbing towards syria's most notorious sednaya prison.hed on by reports that thousands of people imprisoned by the regime of bashar al-assad are still trapped alive in a section underground, this is the red section of the prison. they've been trying for days to reach it. maysoon lebeau tells us. there's no oxygen because the ventilation went out. and so they all may die. >> for the sake of allah. >> help them. is someone from your family in the prison? if you had them in athletic position. >> hala, yanni. mean yanni. >> my three brothers and my son in law. >> she says the roads are choked with cars full of people looking for loved ones. >> as soon as they see our camera, they approach holding lists of names of those who vanished inside assad's dungeons, never to be seen again. >> you have to get them out before tomorrow. >> this man says they don't have food. they don't have water everybody's just started running. it's not clear if they have managed to get into this part of the prison. my god, my god. a woman prays, my god as the crowd su

he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons. but to see it up close is something entirely different a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside more and more families stream in. the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead. my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now. just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts. i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us to t

he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons. but to see it up close is something entirely different. a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here. there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside. more and more families stream in the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now. just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts, i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us to

he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons, but to see it up close is something entirely different a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here. there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside. more and more families stream in. the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead. my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now. just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts, i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad. burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us t

man points to their tattered clothing evidence, he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednayason. even in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons. but to see it up close is something entirely different a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here. there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside more and more families stream in the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead. my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now just because he said no, 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts, i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us t

took cnn cameras inside the stream of families never stops climbing towards syria's most notorious sednaya prison. >> pushed on by reports that thousands of people imprisoned by the regime of bashar al-assad are still trapped alive in a section underground the red section of the prison they've been trying for days to reach it. maysoon abu tells us there's no oxygen because the ventilation went out and so they all may die so al-assad, for the sake of allah, help them. is someone from your family in the prison? we had them in athletic position i mean my three brothers and my son in law. she says the roads are choked with cars full of people looking for loved ones. as soon as they see our camera, they approach holding lists of names of those who vanished inside assad's dungeons. never to be seen again. you have to get them out before tomorrow. this man says they don't have food. they don't have water everybody's just started running. it's not clear if they have managed to get into this part of the prison my god, my god. a woman prays, my god as the crowd surges towards the prison so it looks

a human slaughterhouse the stream of families never stops climbing towards syria's most notorious sednaya prison. >> pushed on by reports that thousands of people imprisoned by the regime of bashar al-assad are still trapped alive in a section underground in the red section of the prison they've been trying for days to reach it. >> maysoon abu tells us there's no oxygen because the ventilation went out. >> and so they all may die. >> so al-assad, for the sake of allah, help them. >> is someone from your family in the prison? if you had them in athletic position? i mean my three brothers and my son in law, she says the roads are choked with cars full of people looking for loved ones. as soon as they see our camera, they approach holding lists of names of those who vanished inside assad's dungeons, never to be seen again i have to get them out before tomorrow, this man says they don't have food. they don't have water. >> everybody's just started running. >> it's not clear if they have managed to get into this part of the prison yonhap yonhap. my god my god, the woman. praise my god. as the

we saw those really chilling images of the sednaya prison in syria, where innocent people were horrifically tortured over the years. how does syria recover from decades of bashar al-assad's brutality? and what are you watching for as a new government in syria forms you raise a very important question wolf, which is how broken is syrian society. >> what we discovered in iraq was that after decades of saddam hussein's brutality, iraqi civil society was broken. it was very difficult to form any kind of real political parties, associations or all of that. and what happened is people reverted to their ethnic or sectarian tribes and that became the the basis for tribal animosity, hatred and a huge civil war so the thing i worry most about, wolf, is exactly the answer to your question uh, is there enough of a sense of syrian civil society left or are we going to see a replay of what happened in iraq remember, syria, in many ways similar, which is to say the assad regime was a minority regime in syria. it was assad belonged to the alawites, the alawites are a minority sect the shia, the sunni major

lamborghini the full brutality of the regime also coming to light as people stormed the notorious sednayallings, desperately trying to free those incarcerated here syria's transition also on display in the russian capital as of this morning, the flag of the syrian opposition flies above the embassy here in moscow. the russians, formerly the biggest backers of bashar al-assad, say they understand there is now a new reality in syria. russia's air force played a major role in helping bashar al-assad turn the tide at the height of syria's civil war and push rebel forces out of much of the country also making vladimir putin one of the most influential players in the middle east and moscow maintains not just a major air base in syria but also its only port in the mediterranean sea where putin's navy conducted large scale exercises just last week but the russians acknowledge the future of their military presence in syria is now uncertain, and their capacity to influence syria's future appears limited. putin's foreign spy chief, seemingly acknowledging the situation, is obviously complicated. he

i mean, we spent one day at the notorious sednaya prison as rescue workers were desperately hammeringway trying to find an underground read section of the prison that didn't even ultimately exist. and they spent days on that search. stories take unexpected turns. we continue to report them. we know without fear or favor, but it is immensely challenging in this environment, and i think we need to be transparent about that. >> jake. absolutely. clarissa ward, thank you so much, and thanks for what you do new reaction from president elect trump after a judge decides his hush money conviction should not be thrown out. but all of this means for the case next. >> when you're the leader of a disaster cleanup and restoration, how do you make like it never even happened? >> happen. fired up randy yeah. >> but being prepared for anything. >> whatever comes your way. >> there's a pro for that. servpro. like it never even happened. >> he looks down at his queen and says, i require many i'll be in tow. >> let's work on that, friend, shall we? >> i've learned many new i've been to a. wow. >> brian

he says that most were detainees at the much feared sednaya prison.n in death, they are still only identified by numbers. everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in assad's notorious prisons, but to see it up close is something entirely different. a lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. i just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here. there's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside more and more families stream in. the light from their cell phones. the only way of identifying the dead. my only son. i don't have another. they took him for 12 years now. just because he said no. 12 years. my only son. this woman shouts, i don't know anything about him. i ask allah to burn him, she says of assad burn him and his sons like he burned my heart. a crowd swarms when they see our camera. everyone here has lost someone. all of these people are asking us to tak

rebels also say they have entered the notorious military sednaya prison prison north of the capital andreed prisoners there. the syrian government has detained thousands of people there, too. the syrian prime minister has been speaking this morning. let's take a listen to what he has been saying. >> this country can be a normal country, a country that builds good relations with its neighbors and with the world. that entry into regional alliances. we will leave this matter to any new leadership chosen by the syrian people and we are ready to cooperate with any new leadership and facilitate what they need so various government departments can be transferred smoothly and systematically in a way that preserves state facilities. >> joining now is the director of the syrian conflict research program. thank you so much for joining us and for your time this morning. the prime minister there just saying he hopes that syria can be, his quote, a normal country. what are your hopes and reflections this morning for syria? >> i do hope for a more democratic and civil country to emerge out of this cou

wrongfully imprisoned, wrongfully executed and for toured and we've been seeing stories coming out of the sednaya-year-long civil war that really just ended as far as we can tell it is over just in the past week. so i went down to a town not so far from here where i am in central damascus where there had been a chemical strike by the assad regime back in 2013. i spoke with some young men about what they endured, about how many people they lost. this was an attack that killed somewhere between nearly 300 or nearly 2,000 people. we don't know exactly how many people were killed and maimed and injured, many others, including the young man mohammed who i spoke to. here is what he told me. [ speaking in a global language ] >> reporter: so as you can see this is a hugely emotional moment for so many people. remember when we're hearing from these people, this is not just a time when they are recalling something that occurred to them when they were recalling their victimization, this is really the first time they're able to speak publicly about these events inside syria with comfort, knowing they're not

he was among dozens of people found dead in sednaya prison.dent yogita limaye was at the march. she sent this report along with sanjay ganguly, aamir peerzada and leen al saadi. and just a warning that it contains distressing images. "oh my boy, my baby. "you were only 19," cries a mother who's just found the disfigured body of her teenage son, who until today was one of tens of thousands who disappeared under bashar assad's regime. now his family knows what happened. ahmad was tortured and killed in prison. those still searching would give anything to have closure. "i wish i could see my son, even if it's his dead body, "so i can bury him and i will know which grave "my son is in," this woman says. her son, al—adeeb al—awad, missing since 2011, when syria's uprising began. she's come to hospital to search through the bodies brought from sednaya prison. this is how she reacted when she saw them... battered, burnt, emaciated, some not even whole. the stench here overwhelming. what we've seen in the past one hour is a steady stream of people com

the sednaya prison has become a symbol of the atrocities committed by syria's former government.ave been heading there, seeking loved ones — some of whom disappeared years ago. thousands of opposition supporters are believed to have been tortured and killed here. just days ago, rebels freed thousands of prisoners here. many believe prisoners are still trapped here in secret underground cells. hayat tahrir al—sham fighters are seen as heroes for liberating these people. but can a group that has a jihadist past deliver the democratic rule that many here want? this woman says, "they are from our country, they are not islamic state, we are not afraid of them." syria's stability depends for now on the man wearing military clothing — abu mohammad al—julani, the leader of hayat tahrir al—sham. here, he was meeting the interim prime minister to discuss the way forward. he succeeded in uniting rebel groups and capturing the whole country in under two weeks. he said rewards will be given for information on assad officials involved in war crimes. meanwhile, these syrian refugees in turkey a