BRITS are feared to have been tortured in Assad’s sick prisons after a Tesco Clubcard and an Oyster travel card were found.
The cards were spotted near Damascus after an extensive prison complex was discovered underneath the Mezzeh military base by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces.
Owen HoldawayThe discovery of Brit-issued cards has sparked fears that a UK national could be among Assad’s victims[/caption]
Owen HoldawayHTS forces show a Freedom Pass for a London resident found inside a ‘human slaughterhouse’[/caption]
Owen HoldawayPictures show the destroyed remains of the Mezzeh military base with a prison complex underneath[/caption]
Across Syria, Bashar al Assad’s chilling “butcher rooms” have been uncovered after his evil regime was toppled in a 12-day lighting blitz by HTS rebels.
Shameless Assad fled the country as it fell before claiming that he was forced into exile in Russia after the base he was hiding in was bombed.
The tyrant used the prisons to silence his critics with many of the tortured dead believed to be buried in mass graves across Syria.
The loved ones of those missing under the cruel regime have scoured the now-liberated prisons for any signs of their relatives.
Piles of identification cards were found at the Mezzeh military base as well as “jihadi fuel” pills, a drug known as Captogan, scattered across the ground.
Shockingly a Tesco Clubcard, an Oyster card and a Freedom Pass from London Councils were discovered among the items left behind.
A Freedom Pass provides Londoners over the age of 66 and those with disabilities with free public transport and is funded by London councils.
It sparked fears that Brits may have been caught up in Assad’s brutal regime and forced to endure the leader’s “human slaughterhouses”.
The Sun has chosen not to reveal the name printed on the cards out of respect for their family but it appeared that they were a London resident.
The Foreign Office told The Sun it did not comment on the individual cases.
Most of the IDs that were confiscated from the offices of the Aviation Intelligence branch of the airbase were Syrian.
Abu Ahmed, an HTS commander from Idlib, said: “We found several IDs from foreigners, British, Italian, and Libyan.
“Most of the cells were empty, but we found around 100 detainees underneath the airbase, and we suspect there are at least two more prisons underneath the ground.”
Mahmoud, a Syrian translator who has been working in the region for the past decade, explained that foreigners were highly important to the regime.
Owen HoldawayRemains of the jihadi drug Captogan were seen scattered on the floor at the military base[/caption]
Owen HoldawayLoved ones scour through piles of ID cards to find any trace of missing relatives[/caption]
He told The Sun: “Foreigners were high-value prisoners for the regime because they could be used to negotiate with other countries.”
He added that the Assad regime often wanted to keep these foreigners secret.
“The regime often hid these foreigners and kept them in special prisons and holding cells,” he said.
The 35-year-old HTS commander, who liberated the airbase about 10 days ago with his unit from Idlib, said it is a race against time to find other prisoners potentially still trapped underground.
Abu Ahmed said: “We brought canine teams, but we have too many places and too little a team to search everywhere.
“It is truly a race against time to find these cells and prisoners before those inside starve to death.”
Do you know any Brits who are missing in Syria? Please contact rebecca.husselbee@the-sun.co.uk with any information.
When Syria fell into the hands of rebel forces, prisons across the country were liberated and piles of tortured bodies and clothes were found inside.
Inside Sednaya Prison, a notorious jail where atrocities are still coming to light, a “Book of Death” with 29,000 names of executed inmates was discovered.
Later a “butcher room“, where critics were allegedly dismembered and melted in acid was seen in the depths of the prison.
One guard told The Sun’s reporter at the chilling scene: “This is the room where they dismembered the bodies of the prisoners – they cut them up and then likely drained their corpses down into these pipes.
“They threw acid on the ground to dissolve the bodies.”
Days after it had been liberated by the rebels, the horror room was still covered in three of four inches of human faeces, dissolved corpses, and is still home to sawing machines.
A slab used to lay bodies on when cutting them up sits next to a menacing shredder.
Cowardly Assad claimed he had wanted to stay and fight Syrian rebel forces despite his plane being loaded with two tonnes of cash and sending them to tyrant pal Putin.
In his final skin-saving act it’s believed he sold military secrets to Israel so they could blitz any weapon stores and stop them falling into the wrong hands as he fled with his family.
The Assad Dynasty
By James Halpin, foreign news reporter
THE Assad dynasty in Syria began with Hafez al-Assad – who seized power in 1971 through a military coup and established an authoritarian regime.
His rule focused on centralised government control, military strength, suppression of dissent, aligning Syria closely with the Soviet Union, and an anti-Israel stance.
He established a cult of personality and corruption flourished as loyalty to Hafez became the most important value.
Bashar was not the first choice to succeed his father, with his elder son Bassel groomed to take over the role.
Bashar was working as an ophthalmologist at Western Eye Hospital in London when Bassel died in a car crash in 1994.
Suddenly, Bashar became the heir apparent and was called back to Damascus to be groomed for leadership.
He spent six and a half years learning the ropes from his father and working in the military.
Hafez died from a heart attack in 2000 and, with the loyalty of his party, transferred power to Bashar establishing the first Arab dynastic republic.
Initially, there were hopes for liberal reforms under Bashar, but hopes faded as he instead continued his father’s repressive policies.
When protesters rose up in 2011, Assad brutally sought to crush them with harsh violence.
But, he lost the support of many of his people and brought about the Syrian Civil War.
In 2013, the cruel dictator even used chemical weapons on rebel areas as he did anything to stay in power.
The civil war dragged on killing hundreds of thousands, destroying cities, and opening the way for ISIS to flourish.
Eventually, Assad gained the upper hand after Iran sent in Hezbollah crack forces and Russia sent in jets to bomb rebels and mercenary group Wagner to fight them.
It appeared that Assad was on the brink of winning the war earlier this year with the rebels confined to an area in the northwest of the country.
Assad chose not to negotiate with the rebels and instead sought to defeat them completely.
But the rebels launched a surprise offensive on November 27 and swept aside Assad’s corrupt and disloyal army.
After seizing Damascus in a swift and decisive offensive, rebel forces declared victory and announced that the city was “free of Assad.”
The dictator fled Syria in total humiliation – having to issue a statement through the Russians he had resigned the presidency and left the country.
Bashar has now been given refuge in Moscow and is currently under Russian protection.
The collapse of the 54-year-old Assad dynasty ignited celebrations across Syria.
In the capital, thousands poured into the streets, waving rebel flags and lighting flares.
Statues of Assad and his late father, Hafez, were toppled in symbolic acts of defiance.
Terror group HTS now controls Syria but the country’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says that despite the turmoil it will not be a threat to the world.
Eleven million people have been displaced by the Syrian civil war over 13 years and Ahmed al-Sharaa takes on a “broken nation”.
Despite a $10,000 bounty on his head, the former Jihadi who established al-Qaeda’s network in Syria says he’s changed.
RexIn the days after Assad’s regime was toppled mass graves with thousands have bodies have been uncovered[/caption]
ReutersDespite claiming he wanted to stay and fight rebels, Assad fleed to exile in Putin’s Russia[/caption]