Residents of Saydnaya, a hilltop city north of Damascus known as one of Christianity’s most important pilgrimage sites, are demanding that media outlets and official bodies stop calling the notorious military prison on the road to their city “Saydnaya Prison” — a name they say is geographically wrong and has tainted a place of ancient sanctity.
The facility in question is actually called the First Military Prison, a Syrian Ministry of Defence compound located 30 kilometres north of Damascus, on the road leading to Saydnaya, but outside the city’s administrative boundaries.
Built under Hafez al-Assad and expanded under his son Bashar, it held between 10,000 and 20,000 prisoners at its peak and became known internationally for systematic torture and cruel treatment of inmates.
When opposition forces entered it following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, international media coverage universally referred to it as “Saydnaya Prison” — a description the city’s residents say they have been fighting to correct ever since.
‘Blatant injustice’
“Many media outlets removed the word ‘prison’ and just said ‘Saydnaya’, as if the town itself is a prison. This is completely false,” Bassam Habib Andraos, mayor of the city’s first neighbourhood, told Euronews.
“The First Military Prison is a site of terror, and linking it to the name of Saydnaya is a blatant injustice — just as the city of Palmyra was wronged when its name was linked to another prison.”
Resident Mahmoud Pasmana echoed the complaint. “The so-called ‘Saydnaya Prison’ is not administratively located within the city of Saydnaya, but on the road leading to it,” he said. “Ascribing it to us is an injustice.”
Saydnaya sits more than 1,400 metres above sea level in the Qalamoun Mountains and is home to the Monastery of Our Lady of Saydnaya, founded at the very beginning of the 7th century and considered by many Christians the second most important pilgrimage destination after Jerusalem.
The city has a mixed Christian and Muslim population and is known regionally for its religious and cultural coexistence.
“Saidnaya has a long history. There are no sects here — we are all from one place, and this is deeply rooted in us since our ancestors. We look after one another,” Jamil Daher, a local resident, told Euronews.
He explained that the town traditionally relies on small-scale agriculture — such as vineyards and almond farming — alongside a relatively high number of educated professionals.
He added that people are currently struggling with soaring prices, with electricity bills reaching extreme levels — up to 600% — compared to an average public-sector income of about $100 per month, a situation he described as “unreasonable”.
The naming dispute compounds already difficult living conditions, Daher explained.
“Saidnaya has been wronged because of a single issue — the prison. The media should make it clear that the prison is not on Saidnaya’s land and has no connection to it.”
“Saidnaya has a deep history and a civilisation that has nothing to do with this place. Everything nearby gets named after it because of its fame, but this prison is far from us and unjustly associated with us. It is a prison of terror, pure and simple,” Daher said.
George Murad, head of the Saydnaya municipal council, told Euronews the town’s churches, mosque and schools affiliated with the monastery serve residents of all faiths, including displaced people from surrounding villages.
Religious tourism, which was a mainstay of the local economy, has declined sharply since the war began, he said, though he hoped it would recover.
Town of miracles
Samaan Maamar, head of the parish council at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, said believers still visit the monastery to see what he described as a miraculous icon attributed to John the Baptist.
“Saydnaya is known globally, not just in Syria,” he said. “We are made up of Christians and Muslims living together as one family in all our contexts.”
The city’s leaders have raised the issue with Syria’s transitional authorities. Andraos said a delegation met the new governor of Rural Damascus, Amer al-Sheikh, to discuss the prison’s name and its future use.
The transitional government has indicated the building could be converted into a museum or a hospital. “The main condition is that it should never be called Saydnaya,” Andraos said.