Syria arrests suspected leader of Tadamon massacre | Syria

Syria’s interior ministry has announced the arrest by security forces of a former Syrian regime official who is suspected of leading an infamous massacre of civilians, the Guardian has revealed, and who became one of the country’s most wanted fugitives after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

Interior Minister Anas Hattab said in a social media post on Friday that Amjad Youssef was captured in the Ghab plain, about 30 miles (50km) outside the city of Hama, and “was detained following a carefully conducted security operation.”

In the mugshots released by the ministry, 40-year-old Yusuf was wearing a striped prison uniform, while images of the former military intelligence officer being detained in a vehicle, his face covered in blood, being cursed at and slapped by uniformed men were circulating on social media.

In images, apparently from the raidA photo posted on local social media pages showed security forces storming a beige concrete house in a rural area, shouting “God is great” and attacking Yousef, wearing a red hoodie and a nonchalant demeanor, as he was surrounded and taken to a security vehicle.

A security source told Reuters that Yusuf has been hiding in the Ghab plain since Assad’s ouster at the end of 2024.

He is one of the leading suspects in what became known as the Tadamon massacre, in which an estimated 288 civilians, including 12 children, were massacred in a southern Damascus neighborhood in 2013. This incident was documented in a series of videos shot by the killers themselves and leaked to investigators in Europe; extracts from these were published by the Guardian in 2022.

Warning: contains graphic images

More than 24 videos show uniformed Syrian security guards and pro-government militiamen leading groups of blindfolded civilians to the edge of a pit, forcing them inside, and then shooting them to death. Their bodies were bulldozed and buried, and all of them were seized in detail by the perpetrators.

The footage offered a glimpse into the brutal treatment of civilians by Assad government forces in disputed areas across Syria, and was also extraordinary for the way it was revealed.

A whistleblower discovered the videos on the government laptop and secretly transferred them to activists in Paris; They then submitted them to two Netherlands-based researchers, Annsar Shahhoud and Prof. Dr. from the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Research. He sent it to Uğur Ümit Üngör.

Over the next two years, Shahhoud and Üngör attempted to locate the murders and identify the victims, as well as the perpetrators, including the alleged ringleader, a young man they called “the shadow man” with a distinctive scar on his left eyebrow.

Shahhoud eventually found a Facebook page belonging to a Syrian intelligence official named Amjad Youssef, whose profile picture resembled the man. He posed as a pro-Assad researcher living in Europe and spent the next year secretly filming interviews with Youssef.

After the Guardian revealed the massacre in text and published excerpts from Shahhoud’s undercover interviews in a two-part podcast miniseries, the US state department and EU announced sanctions against Youssef, and France announced it was opening a war crimes investigation.

The news of Youssef’s arrest was greeted with joy in Tadamon, with mass celebrations after Friday prayers. Young Maher Rahima, who lived at the time of the murders, said, “I don’t know what to say, I am very happy.” “At the same time, I cannot forget the images of children and women being killed and burned. It should never be forgotten.”

Residents said the persecution in Tadamon continued until at least 2015, with the actual death toll likely to exceed 1,000 people, many of whom were buried in mass graves in the area.

Tadamon has become a symbol of crimes against Syrian civilians. Following Assad’s ouster, media organizations, human rights groups and people from across the country flocked to the area to locate victims’ burial sites and interview witnesses. The area depicted in the leaked images was tagged on Google Maps as “the location of the Tadamon massacre.” Local residents call the site “Amjad Youssef’s pit.”

Tadamon resident and neighborhood committee member Ahmed Adra told Reuters that families of the victims had been celebrating in the streets since the morning. “We will take the white roses and plant them at the place of the massacre and tell the victims that their memories live on and that justice has been served,” he said.

Images from Tadamon Published online Friday He showed people gathered in the pit, where the mass grave was marked by a circle of concrete blocks. Speaking to the camera, a local man said it was “a wonderful day that brings relief to the hearts of believers.”

“Why was the world so affected by this massacre, which was first revealed by the British newspaper The Guardian in 2022?” he asked. “Because they actually witnessed the killing. Syrians saw hundreds of massacres, the regime bombed with barrel bombs, and they were seeing their martyrs. Why did the world react so harshly to Amjad Youssef? Because there was a camera involved.”

Other images showed hundreds of people walking through the neighborhood, some of which was still under rubble, handing out candy, waving Syrian flags and chanting religious slogans.

Yousef’s capture represents a major symbolic arrest for the Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Shara, who came to power 18 months ago vowing to hold Assad-era officials and their supporters accountable for their crimes.

But progress toward accountability has been uneven, with some powerful figures in the Assad administration making deals with the new government to provide information, negotiate the surrender of weapons or hostages, and make apparent deals in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

These include Fadi Saqr, former commander of the National Defense Forces (NDF), a pro-Assad militia involved in the mass killing of civilians in Tadamon. Saqr denied any involvement in the massacre, claiming that he was later appointed NDF commander.

Shahhoud told the Guardian: “I am extremely happy for the families. But it remains to be seen what form Amjad Youssef’s trial will now take and whether what he has to say will be expressed in a transparent manner. Ultimately, this could incriminate many other perpetrators, including those who have already reached an agreement with the new government, such as Fadi Saqr.”

“While Youssef is the most notorious perpetrator, the NDF and many other actors also participated in the mass killing of civilians in Tadamon. Without a fair and transparent trial, justice is unlikely to be served.”

Shahhoud, who has felt for years that Youssef was trying to follow him to take revenge for his deed, said: “I feel safe now.”

Rumors about Youssef’s whereabouts after the fall of Assad’s government in December 2024 had circulated for years, including reports that he had fled to Lebanon or Europe and had undergone plastic surgery to change his appearance.

Syrian security forces finally arrested him approximately 200 kilometers from Tadamon; He looked much the same as he did in 2022, with the same scar on his left eyebrow, but older, frightened and injured in the custody of a new rebel-led government.