Ruth Sherlock

I mean, it was just surreal. Just even being able to cross the border from Lebanon would have been, you know, almost impossible for a Western journalist. Syria had become such a closed country. But just a couple of days after the fall of the regime, we did just that. We drove across and, you know, we were stamped out of the Lebanese side.

I mean, it was just surreal. Just even being able to cross the border from Lebanon would have been, you know, almost impossible for a Western journalist. Syria had become such a closed country. But just a couple of days after the fall of the regime, we did just that. We drove across and, you know, we were stamped out of the Lebanese side.

I mean, it was just surreal. Just even being able to cross the border from Lebanon would have been, you know, almost impossible for a Western journalist. Syria had become such a closed country. But just a couple of days after the fall of the regime, we did just that. We drove across and, you know, we were stamped out of the Lebanese side.

And on the Syrian side, we just passed an empty immigration office. Nobody even looked at my passport. By the customs, there was a group of rebel fighters, but they kind of just grinned at us and waved at us as if they even couldn't believe what was happening. And then it's a short drive to Damascus, just over 40 minutes.

And on the Syrian side, we just passed an empty immigration office. Nobody even looked at my passport. By the customs, there was a group of rebel fighters, but they kind of just grinned at us and waved at us as if they even couldn't believe what was happening. And then it's a short drive to Damascus, just over 40 minutes.

And on the Syrian side, we just passed an empty immigration office. Nobody even looked at my passport. By the customs, there was a group of rebel fighters, but they kind of just grinned at us and waved at us as if they even couldn't believe what was happening. And then it's a short drive to Damascus, just over 40 minutes.

And on the road, we passed these burnt out tanks and military uniforms that had been discarded by soldiers as they were fleeing. And the air in the capital, it was thick.

And on the road, we passed these burnt out tanks and military uniforms that had been discarded by soldiers as they were fleeing. And the air in the capital, it was thick.

And on the road, we passed these burnt out tanks and military uniforms that had been discarded by soldiers as they were fleeing. And the air in the capital, it was thick.

thick and heavy and toxic partly from the fires that people had set alight in kind of government buildings and then also from the dust from the debris caused by israeli airstrikes they were bombing hitting military installations that used to belong to the regime because there is so much uncertainty about who the new leadership and what comes next

thick and heavy and toxic partly from the fires that people had set alight in kind of government buildings and then also from the dust from the debris caused by israeli airstrikes they were bombing hitting military installations that used to belong to the regime because there is so much uncertainty about who the new leadership and what comes next

thick and heavy and toxic partly from the fires that people had set alight in kind of government buildings and then also from the dust from the debris caused by israeli airstrikes they were bombing hitting military installations that used to belong to the regime because there is so much uncertainty about who the new leadership and what comes next

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you know, these massive, terrible human rights abuses have been widely documented, but it is really something else to be able to go to these places, to these dozens of intelligence branches and see where torture happened. And I think it's only now that we're really getting a clearer picture of how many people were killed in this system.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you know, these massive, terrible human rights abuses have been widely documented, but it is really something else to be able to go to these places, to these dozens of intelligence branches and see where torture happened. And I think it's only now that we're really getting a clearer picture of how many people were killed in this system.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you know, these massive, terrible human rights abuses have been widely documented, but it is really something else to be able to go to these places, to these dozens of intelligence branches and see where torture happened. And I think it's only now that we're really getting a clearer picture of how many people were killed in this system.

Shortly after I visited the mass grave near Damascus, Stephen Rapp, a former US ambassador at large for war crimes, he went to the same location and he says the Syrian regime had established a, quote, machinery of death and that nothing like this has been seen, quote, since the Nazis arrived.

Shortly after I visited the mass grave near Damascus, Stephen Rapp, a former US ambassador at large for war crimes, he went to the same location and he says the Syrian regime had established a, quote, machinery of death and that nothing like this has been seen, quote, since the Nazis arrived.

Shortly after I visited the mass grave near Damascus, Stephen Rapp, a former US ambassador at large for war crimes, he went to the same location and he says the Syrian regime had established a, quote, machinery of death and that nothing like this has been seen, quote, since the Nazis arrived.

One of the first places we headed to straight after we crossed the border was Sednaya prison. Tens of thousands of Syrians were jailed there, people suspected of opposing the regime. And under Assad, you wouldn't speak about this place in public. Even if you had, for example, a relative inside, you'd just avoid any association with it.

One of the first places we headed to straight after we crossed the border was Sednaya prison. Tens of thousands of Syrians were jailed there, people suspected of opposing the regime. And under Assad, you wouldn't speak about this place in public. Even if you had, for example, a relative inside, you'd just avoid any association with it.