Syria: Months after Assad's fall, families of missing still seeking justice

Some are only now coming forward with accounts of loved ones who disappeared during the civil war and are presumed dead.

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He added a jaw to the pile, before gently picking up a skull. Briefly, he kissed it - a moment of tenderness for one of the many victims of Bashar al-Assad. Ten months after Assad was ousted from power last December, in a lightning rebel advance, mass graves are still being uncovered.

The Syrian dictator's legacy is embedded in the soil here - skeletal remains where crops should be. There are now more than 60 grave sites and counting.

One of the latest came to light in al-Otaiba village, in the district of Eastern Ghouta, where a shepherd stumbled on clothing and human remains after straw was burnt off.

The authorities believe as many as 175 bodies were bulldozed into a mass grave in this former opposition stronghold.