Massacre video reopens wounds for missing Syrians’ families

By LUJAIN JO
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The Siyam family believed for many years that their adult son was being held at a government prison after he went missing at a checkpoint nearly a decade ago. The hope that he’d one day return ended last month. A newly released video taken in 2013 shows him among dozens of blindfolded young men who were thrown into a large pit and shot and killed by Syrian agents, who then set the bodies on fire. The video stirs new fears over the fate of tens of thousands who went missing during Syria’s long-running conflict. It’s a grim reminder of the war’s unpunished massacres, just as similar atrocities are taking place in Ukraine.