US officials have long insisted that Syria’s Assad government is carrying out mass executions of detainees throughout the civil war, but the lack of evidence for mass graves has forced the US to shift its narrative, now claiming that a crematorium built outside of Damascus could be the key.

The US State Department is now claiming that the mass executions are being carried out with the “unconditional support” of Iran and Russia, and that the Syrian military is hanging detainees en masse and just throwing them all into the crematorium to cover up the evidence.

There’s no evidence backing these claims up, of course, apart from satellite photos on the outside of the crematorium, and US officials rather just rehashed a series of things they think may well be happening in Syrian prison, including torture and rape, followed up with a speedy execution and disposal.

Indeed, State Department officials conceded that the whole reason they came up with this new statement was because Russia’s Foreign Minister visited the US last week, and the US wanted to reiterate that there needs to be a regime change in Syria, despite Russian opposition.