Race against time to save 100,000 Syrian prisoners, with inmates seen on CCTV 'choking to death' behind electronic doors in unventilated cells within Assad's underground prison hellhole

Syrian rebels are locked in a race against time to liberate up to tens of thousands of prisoners who are reportedly trapped in secret cells buried deep beneath the notorious Saydnaya Prison near Damascus. 

The prison - nicknamed the Human Slaughterhouse - is synonymous with heinous torture, executions and human rights abuses carried out by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by Syrian rebel forces this weekend.

Although many of its inhabitants have already been freed by the rebels, thousands more are said to be locked in sealed cells several stories below the main prison building.

These levels are locked by special mechanisms with electronic keypads and are reportedly accessible only by a labyrinth of tunnels.

The Damascus Countryside Governorate claims the prisoners can be seen on CCTV, but there are fears they could soon choke to death if the cells are unventilated.

The authorities gave a figure of 100,000 trapped beneath the prison, though this number has not been verified.  

Syrias White Helmets civil defence group declared on X it has deployed specialised emergency teams who are being helped by a guide familiar with the prisons layout to aid the rebels in freeing the detainees.

Amnesty International claims dozens of people were secretly executed every week in Saydnaya, estimating that up to 13,000 Syrians were killed between 2011 and 2016. 

Unverified footage reportedly shows rebels opening cells one by one by breaking down walls, and they are said to have rescued hundreds of inmates in Syria

Rebels are seen breaking through the Saydnaya prison

The Saydnaya prison (pictured in satellite imagery) is famed for its inhumane conditions, systematic torture and mass executions

As Syrias rebels swept towards the capital city last week, they made a point of liberating inmates from every jail they found, claiming most of the inhabitants were political prisoners of the Assad regime. 

Over the past 10 days, insurgents freed prisoners in cities including Aleppo, Homs, Hama as well as Damascus. 

Widely circulated footage has shown rebels opening cells one by one by breaking down walls, and they are said to have rescued hundreds of inmates, including women and young children.

At Saydnaya, the terror experienced by the inmates was evident when the liberators arrived.

Women detainees, some with their children who were born behind bars, screamed as men broke the locks off their cell doors.

Others seemed almost reluctant to leave their cells, fearing reprisals, while one man freed from the prison wasnt able to speak when people asked him who he was. 

Dont be afraid - Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid? one of the rebels was heard saying as he tried to rush streams of women out of their jam-packed tiny cells in one clip. 

Another heartbreaking video showed a toddler stumbling out of unlocked cell doors looking confused. 

Syrias prisons are infamous for their harsh conditions. 

Torture is systematic, say human rights groups, whistleblowers, and former detainees. 

Secret executions have been reported at more than two dozen facilities run by Syrian intelligence, as well as at other sites.

In 2013, a Syrian military defector, known as Caesar, smuggled out over 53,000 photographs that human rights groups say showed clear evidence of rampant torture, but also disease and starvation in Syrias prison facilities.

Syrias feared security apparatus and prisons did not only serve to isolate Assads opponents, but also to instill fear among his own people said Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at the London think tank Chatham House.

Anxiety about being thrown in one of Assads notorious prisons created wide mistrust among Syrians, Khatib said. Assad nurtured this culture of fear to maintain control and crush political opposition.

This is the heartbreaking moment a toddler is seen walking out of a Syrian prison cell inside tyrant President Bashar al-Assads human slaughterhouse

Women and children have been freed from despot President Bashar al-Assads prison as Syrian rebels seize power of the country

Unverified footage on X reportedly shows inmates coming out of Saydnaya Prison

Though some inmates were terrified when the rebels came to break the locks off their cell doors, many more were jubilant. 

A torrent of videos circulating social media networks shows men, women and children screaming with delight as they poured out of prison walls to taste freedom for the first time in years.

They were boarded onto buses waiting outside the prison before being taken to their homes.

The rebels who were filmed releasing inmates at the Saydnaya prison said: We celebrate with the Syrian people the news of freeing our prisoners and releasing their chains and announcing the end of the era of injustice.

But Omar Saoud, a local activist, gave more details of the underground cells in which many more prisoners remain trapped.

Three floors underground, there is a prison known as the red prison, it has not yet been opened, he said.

They are not being able to open it because it requires a certain mechanism, and the soldiers and officers who used to be here have left.

Amnesty International research said the Syrian authorities had committed crimes against humanity at Saydnaya, with thousands of inmates in the prison 30km north of Damascus believed to have been tortured and exterminated. 

They determined that the violations committed at the brutal facilities over the last decade under Assad, which has seen over 10,000 political detainees vanish, was part of a systematic attack against civilians. 

They were boarded onto buses waiting outside the prison before being taken to their homes

People yelped joyfully as they were freed where some had been incarcerated for decades

Toddlers could be seen in a video posted on X wandering around near unlocked prison doors while women yelped joyfully as they were freed where some had been incarcerated for decades

A rebel fighter walks down the stairs of the military prison near Damascus dubbed the industrial torture chamber has reportedly seen between 5,000 to 13,000 inmates hanged since 2011, according to AlJazeera

Assad previously denied accusations that his regime had killed thousands of detainees at Saydnaya and had used a secret crematorium to dispose of their remains in 2017. 

He also branded the allegations by the US State Department of up to 50 people being hanged daily at the brutal military prison as a new Hollywood story detached from reality.

Journalist Samer Daboul, whose uncle was taken into custody for smuggling bread and vanished behind the prison walls in 2012, eagerly awaits news regarding the man who was one of the most influential people in his life 

He taught me about Syrias history, the revolution, and why it was necessary, he told the BBC. 

I want him to know that the young man he inspired 12 years ago is now a journalist reporting on Syria. I want him to be proud of me.

Several have taken to social media to encourage the rebels to reach the notoriously cruel prison and liberate its inmates, while others hope their relatives, who they have not seen or heard from - some in years - are still alive. 

Meanwhile, many Syrian families skipped celebrations of the downfall of the Assad dynasty.

Instead, they waited outside prisons and security branch centres, hoping their loved ones would be there. 

This happiness will not be completed until I can see my son out of prison and know where he is, said Bassam Masri. 

I have been searching for him for two hours. He has been detained for 13 years, - since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011 - she said.

Rebels struggled to control the chaos as crowds gathered by the Court of Justice in Damascus.

Heba, who only gave her first name while speaking to an AP reporter, said she was looking for her brother and brother-in-law who were detained while reporting a stolen car in 2011 and hadnt been seen since.

They took away so many of us, said Heba, whose mothers cousin also disappeared. We know nothing about them... They (the Assad government) burned our hearts.

Rebel soldiers could be heard shouting Allahu Akbar - meaning God is great - as they frantically cut through padlocks on jail cell doors

Syrians have pleaded for their loves ones to be freed from the notorious prison of Saydnaya (Pictured) after rebels freed thousands of detainees elsewhere in Homs

Rebel fighters stand on a military vehicle in Homs countryside, after Syrian rebels pressed their lightning advance on Saturday

A rebel fighter gestures in Homs countryside, after Syrian rebels pressed their lightning advance and later took control of the city 

Residents in Hama set ablaze a large banner bearing a picture of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad hanging on the facade of a municipal building

A giant portrait of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad sets on a building, as empty streets seen in Damascus, Syria