Omar Ahmod risked his safety to return to Hoyyar Siri a few months after the massacre, located the sites where he had seen civilians gunned down, and took videos and photographs of human remains. These images were analyzed by forensics experts who, in some cases, identified gunshot injuries to the skulls of victims.
“There, I saw heaps of skeletons and skulls scattered everywhere, clothes still intact though the flesh had decayed. Some bodies were in water-filled ditches, others on dry ground. I remembered exactly where these people had been gathered,” Omar Ahmod told Human Rights Watch.
© 2026 John Holmes for Human Rights Watch