The Syrian army on Tuesday, March 20 discovered two mass graves in the eastern countryside of Hama province; bodies of many civilians and soldiers have already been unearthed, Al-Masdar News reports.

According to early reports, the mass graves were discovered near the town of Rahjan which was the hometown of the Syrian Ministry of Defence before its fall to Islamist forces in 2014.

Sources on the scene go on to state that ‘tens’ of bodies of slain government troops and civilians have been found so far – excavation teams are still working on both sites.

Al-Qaeda affiliate militia Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (better known by its former name, Jabhat al-Nusra) is most likely responsible for the massacre, although this cannot be confirmed at the present time.