The fall of Syria's leader in December opened the doors to a vast network of detention centers and prisons across the country, uncovering further evidence of the true scale of killings under former president Bashar al-Assad. On this episode of The Sunday Story, NPR's Ruth Sherlock takes us to a notorious prison where thousands were detained and killed, and she visits a suspected mass gravesite outside Damascus. She meets former prisoners and those forced to play a role in what has been called the regime's "machinery of death." Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

President Trump visits disaster zones; the Trump administration wants to end the military's diversity and anti-extremism programs; and an Israeli private eye is wanted by the U.S. for hacking. For more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, Diane Webber, Clare Lombardo, Olivia Hampton and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Milton Guevara and Claire Murashima. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy