Syria plans to convert Mezze Airport despite burial site concerns
In Damascus, Syrian authorities plan to convert the former Mezze military airport for limited civilian use — private and business aviation. Human rights defenders and residents say the work could damage possible burial sites and fail to take into account the claims of private landowners, reports the Jerusalem Post, citing Reuters.
Last week, Syria's Civil Aviation Authority announced preparations to reclassify Mezze Airport. According to the state agency SANA, it is to serve private and business flights and complement Damascus International Airport. Debris clearance and infrastructure upgrades have already begun.
Documents on executions
Under the rule of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad, Mezze housed key units of Syria's Air Force Intelligence Directorate, as well as detention sites for people suspected of opposing the authorities. Air Force Intelligence documents obtained by the human rights organization Syria Justice and Accountability Centre indicate, according to the organization, that senior Syrian military officials in 2012 approved the use of Mezze for the execution of prisoners sentenced to death by military field courts.
One document proposed moving executions from Sednaya prison to Mezze because the airfield was a closed, guarded complex near Damascus. Subsequent correspondence concerned a shooting range and later a hangar near the runway as possible execution sites. According to the documents, officials ordered the construction of a platform in the hangar, requested nylon ropes, and demanded that the work be carried out under Air Force Intelligence supervision with strict secrecy.
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In a 2025 investigation, SJAC reported two possible burial sites on the airport grounds connected to people who died while detained at Mezze. The organization said that more than 1,150 detainees died there — some as a result of executions, others due to torture or mistreatment.
In July 2025, SJAC provided Syria's National Commission on Missing Persons with the coordinates of two possible burial sites and urged that no construction or excavation be carried out before they were investigated. According to SJAC, the commission responded at the time that there were no plans for construction or reconstruction at Mezze. After the new plans emerged, the organization again contacted the commission on September 8, warning that debris clearance or other work could damage human remains and evidence needed to identify victims. SJAC received no response to its second letter.
Land dispute
The Civil Aviation Authority, the Commission on Missing Persons, and Syria's Ministry of Defense did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment regarding the possible burial sites and land claims. A Civil Aviation Authority representative quoted by SANA said that the urban surroundings and relevant legal and social issues would be taken into account during the reconstruction, without specifying the issue of burial sites or land rights.
The land dispute surrounding the airport has lasted for decades. According to land records from the Moadamiyah municipality, the airport was built on 2.76 square kilometers of land belonging to hundreds of private individuals. A former municipal official told Reuters that expropriation decrees retrospectively justified the state's use of the land after the airport was built in 1956, and that compensation was not paid. After the plans were announced, Moadamiyah residents held a protest.
