Researchers call it "the abyss of horror". The Al-Hota gorge, located 85 kilometers north of Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, was used as a mass grave by the jihadist group that ruled the region from 2013 to 2015, reveals a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on May 4.
The human rights NGO conducted the investigation from 2013 to 2019, using advanced technologies to access this geological site. She was able to film the bodies of six people, not identified to date, floating in the water, at the bottom of the 50-meter-deep abyss. But everything suggests that there are many more corpses there.
Questioned by France 24, Nadim Houry, former director of the Terrorism / Counterterrorism program of Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report, now executive director of the think tank Arab Reform Initiative, reviews the conditions of this particular investigation and the questions that it raises.
France 24: How did you target the Al-Hota pit at the start of your investigation?
Nadim Houry: It all started with a video that had leaked from the Islamic State and had been broadcast by a Syrian media in June 2014. We saw there seven masked terrorists throwing the bodies of two men deep in the throat. At that time, the region was dominated by Daesh, we could not investigate there, there were other massacres… But I knew the area well, I went there in 2013 and already at the time, I had heard rumors of bodies thrown in the throat. Then, we were only able to return there in the summer of 2017, at the time of the Battle of Raqqa.
What were the difficulties in investigating?
First of all, it is difficult to access the pit. It is a kind of canyon, far from the road, quite deserted. The paths leading to it were littered with mines and explosives. Then, the pit is very steep and falls to 50 meters deep.
The human investigation was also complicated. In the village of Soulouk, which is a five-minute drive away, the villagers were afraid to answer questions. Even if Daesh was losing ground, there were still IS sleepers and people refused to surrender.
How has technology helped you in your investigation?
Our goal was to film at the bottom of the abyss and drones were the best way to do it. But we had a lot of trouble importing it. ISIS was also using it, so the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan - through which we were passing - took almost a year to give us authorization, lest our drones be hijacked for terrorist purposes.
In September 2018, we were finally able to bring in two French technology devices that can operate without GPS - commercial companies had been ordered to cut their signals in the context of the fight against IS - and dive 50 meters below us . The challenge was immense. We almost lost a drone that was struck by a flock of birds in the throat, but the second drone finally brought the images back to us.
What have you discovered?
In the images, we can see six bodies floating on the surface of viscous water, probably pockets of oil. But we could not identify the bodies that remained in the water, nor dive under the surface, where there are surely other corpses.
We are then in 2018 and the Islamic State group no longer dominates the region. Why accuse him in your report?
There was probably a use of this grave as a mass grave by rebel groups before IS and then after them. In 2018, we alerted the FDS (military coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces) which had regained control of the region and they told us about settling scores between locals. But we have never been able to substantiate these claims. However, we have evidence against IS.
First, the video from 2014, then testimonies from the locals and local journalistic inquiries. Finally, we know that ISIS used the same methods in a pit in Iraq. It is perhaps a punishment reserved for "impure" people who, according to the jihadists, do not deserve to be buried. But understanding this practice would require further anthropological investigation.
Why release this report now?
We pushed our technology to the maximum of what we could do. Now, we must continue the investigation because this document raises more questions than it provides answers. We have pleaded with the international coalition, then with the SDF, and now with Turkish troops, to ensure that the site is secured as a crime scene. The answers exist and they are necessary to write the history of IS and to ensure that these crimes do not happen again.
This report is part of a larger investigation by HRW into the disappearances of Daesh. This pit is spectacular, intriguing. Locally, she already had a fascination: a local myth told that she sheltered a creature which kidnapped people. But this pit is a mass grave among others. There are at least 20 in the region and thousands of people have disappeared during the reign of IS. Iraqis, Westerners but also Syrians.
The Syrians are the first to have suffered the atrocities of Daesh, they have lost loved ones, have seen their economy collapse, and the coalition acts as if this war had taken place above ground. Giving answers on the fate of the missing is to restore some order and help the country to rebuild. It also allows families to mourn and the country to turn the page on Daesh.
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