The United States has evidence the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has built a crematorium near the site of its Sednaya prison.

:: The United States has evidence the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has built a crematorium near the site of its Sednaya prison, a State Department official said on Monday.

Stuart Jones, the acting assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, said the crematorium could be used to dispose of bodies near a prison where tens of thousands of people have been detained during the country’s 6-year-old civil war.

Jones also said the United States has “reason to be skeptical” about a deal to set up “de-escalation zones” brokered by Russia during ceasefire talks in the Kazakh capital Astana last week.