Mezzeh airport redevelopment plan raises alarm over suspected mass graves and land claims

Redevelopment collides with an unresolved past

Syria's plan to convert the former Mezzeh military airport in Damascus into a hub for private and executive aircraft has prompted warnings from rights groups and residents. The civil aviation authority announced the intended reclassification last week, and rubble removal and infrastructure work have already begun. The project is meant to supplement Damascus International Airport, but its location ties an investment initiative to two unresolved legacies of Assad family rule: missing detainees and property taken for state use.

Documents identify an execution site

Documents obtained by the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre and reviewed by Reuters indicate that senior military officials approved Mezzeh as an execution site in 2012. Correspondence discussed moving executions from Sednaya prison to the secure airbase, considered a firing range and then a hangar beside the runway, and ordered preparations under Air Force Intelligence supervision. A 2025 investigation by the centre identified two suspected burial sites and concluded that more than 1,150 detainees died at Mezzeh through executions, torture or maltreatment.

The centre sent the coordinates of the suspected graves to Syria's National Commission for Missing Persons in July 2025 and asked that construction or excavation be prevented until investigators could examine the locations. After the airport plan became public, it wrote again on September 8, warning that earthworks could damage human remains and evidence needed to identify victims. Reuters reported that the commission, aviation authority and Defence Ministry had not answered its questions about the graves or safeguards.

Residents revive decades-old ownership claims

The airport's land is also contested. Municipal records reviewed by Reuters indicate that the facilities occupy about 2.76 square kilometres originally belonging to hundreds of private citizens. A former local official said decrees were used retrospectively to justify the land's occupation after the airport was built in 1956, without compensation being paid. Residents demonstrated in Moadamiya after the redevelopment announcement, arguing that investment should proceed only after owners are included in negotiations and their documented claims are addressed.

What the authorities must decide

The dispute reaches beyond a single construction project. The United Nations institution responsible for Syria's missing-persons file says the country's new reality still requires a victim-centred search conducted with families and civil society. It has stressed that truth-seeking depends on preserving information and coordinating with Syrian bodies. The immediate questions are whether work at Mezzeh will pause, whether suspected graves will receive forensic protection, and whether an ownership and compensation process will precede any agreement with a private developer.