Qatar and FBI uncover remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by IS in Syria

IS controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq until 2017, abducting and killing numerous foreign journalists and aid workers.

The remains of at least 30 individuals believed to have been executed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group have been uncovered in northern Syria, following a joint search led by Qatari teams in coordination with the FBI, Qatari authorities have confirmed.According to a statement issued by Qatar's internal security forces, the operation was conducted at the request of the FBI, with DNA testing underway to confirm the identities of the deceased. The statement did not specify which individuals the American agency was attempting to locate.The remains were discovered in the remote town of Dabiq, close to Syria's northern border with Turkey.The extremist group, which proclaimed a so-called caliphate, controlled territory in Syria and Iraq for nearly five years before losing most of its strongholds by late 2017 and being declared defeated in 2019.During its occupation, IS was responsible for the abduction and killing of dozens of foreigners, including journalists and aid workers. Among them were American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig and British correspondent John Cantlie, who was kidnapped alongside Foley in 2012 and last appeared in IS propaganda in 2016. Separately, mass graves have also been located in territory formerly under the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted last December in a lightning insurgency that ended his family's five-decade rule. Al-Assad's government was long accused of forcibly disappearing dissidents through its feared security and intelligence services.According to a 2021 United Nations estimate, more than 130,000 Syrians were forcibly disappeared after an anti-government movement in 2011 quickly morphed into a civil war.