logo
Syrian authorities arrest three men with suspected links to notorious Tadamon massacre

Syrian authorities arrest three men with suspected links to notorious Tadamon massacre

The Guardian18-02-2025

Authorities in Damascus have arrested three men they claim were involved in a notorious massacre of civilians by Syrian security forces revealed by the Guardian three years ago.
Footage posted online purported to show one of the men, Monzer al-Jazairi, with his hands bound and being led through the heavily damaged streets of Tadamon, the Damascus suburb where nearly 300 people were killed in an atrocity filmed by the perpetrators themselves – and then leaked by a whistleblower to activists in Europe.
After his arrest on Monday, Jazairi said the final death toll was even higher. 'About how many were killed?' he was asked by a uniformed man.
'About 500 people,' he replied.
A witness in the neighbourhood said that it was stormed by truckloads of security forces on Monday afternoon, who closed off the perimeter of several blocks to prevent anyone escaping.
The two others arrested – and pictured sitting in the back of a pickup truck guarded by masked men – were identified as Somer Mohammed al-Mahmoud and Imad Mohammed al-Mahmoud.
It is unclear what role the trio played in the events in Tadamon. Their names are understood not to have come up in earlier research into the mass killings, suggesting they were not major players.
Over the course of a civil war in which the Bashar al-Assad regime killed at least 300,000 civilians, by one estimate, the massacre at Tadamon has become one of the most infamous for the clarity and detail with which it was documented by regime forces.
More than two-dozen videos showed uniformed members of Syrian military intelligence working with pro-Assad militiamen to kill an estimated 288 people, including 12 children. Their bodies were burned and buried using a bulldozer. The footage was dated to April 2013, a period in which the Syrian government and rebels were fighting over neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the capital.
A technician in Damascus discovered the footage on a Syrian government laptop and secretly sent it to activists in Paris, who passed the videos to a pair of researchers in the Netherlands, Annsar Shahhoud and Prof Uğur Ümit Üngör, from the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The face of the massacre became a Syrian military intelligence official named Amjad Yousef, who is still at large.
One of the videos showed Yousef, in military fatigues and a green fisherman's hat with a distinctive scar on his eyebrow, leading 11 blindfolded men one-by-one to a pit, taunting several as he shoved them into the hole and murdered them.
Üngör and Shahhoud found a Facebook profile belonging to a man who resembled Yousef. The researchers befriended him and – posing as regime supporters – persuaded him to take part in several video calls that they filmed, excerpts from which were later published by the Guardian.
After one of the videos was published online, several of the families of the victims came forward saying they had identified their missing loved ones in the footage. The horror it sparked in Syria and among its diaspora led to rare concessions from the Assad regime, including the release of hundreds of prisoners and the appointment of a new defence minister.
But Yousef remained free, and two years ago was reportedly working on a military base outside Damascus. A former colleague said that year that Yousef had terrorised the Tadamon neighbourhood for the past decade, regularly snatching women from the streets, many of whom never returned.
'I saw him take women from a bread queue one morning,' the colleague said. 'They were innocent. They had done nothing. They were either raped or killed. Nothing less.'
The US government announced it had imposed sanctions on Yousef and his family in 2023.
Syrian authorities announced in the days after Assad's fall that they had arrested Yousef's superior, Salih al-Ras.
'We used to bring detainees arrested at checkpoints, put them under the buildings here and execute them, and then after we're done explode the buildings over them,' Jazairi told the Associated Press in a separate interview. It was unclear whether he was speaking under duress or voluntarily.
'Every batch constituted around 25 [people],' he said, adding that 'around one week' passed between one batch and the next.
The Damascus Security Chief, Lt. Col. Abdul Rahman al-Dabbagh, corroborated the number, citing additional confessions from those arrested.
'Many of those killed used to be collected at checkpoints and security [detention] centres, brought to Tadamon neighbourhood, where they were executed,' Dabbagh said.
'The operation is ongoing to apprehend all those involved in violations and massacres against Syrians.'
Syria's new transitional government, led by the former leader of the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been conducting raids in different cities to arrest remnants of the previous regime and says it is working on a judicial mechanism to hold them to account.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Former cannabis factory helps Lliswerry pond into bloom
Former cannabis factory helps Lliswerry pond into bloom

South Wales Argus

timean hour ago

  • South Wales Argus

Former cannabis factory helps Lliswerry pond into bloom

The fertiliser has been used to create an explosion of colour in a picturesque part of the city. Officers took ownership of the unused fertiliser while dismantling the cannabis cultivation in a disused factory last year, leading to two arrests. Gwent Police donated the fertiliser to Lliswerry Pond and, during the winter months, leaseholder Ben Edmunds used it in raised beds and borders around the Aberthaw Road site. Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Joanne Spiteri, from the neighbourhood policing team at Alway, visited the fishery to see the marigolds, busy lizzies and wild flowers flourishing at first-hand. Sergeant Chris Hopkin said: "PCSO Spiteri and her colleagues work closely with Ben to help keep the area around Lliswerry Pond safe from anti-social behaviour and associated crime. "Back in November, our officers dismantled a cannabis factory at a disused warehouse in Kelvedon Street and we were delighted to donate the unused fertiliser to Lliswerry Pond to help with their outdoor floral displays. 'By re-purposing the fertiliser, it has certainly helped to bring some additional colour to the site and puts items that are often thought to be used for criminal purposes to use that benefit our communities. "Lliswerry Pond is a jewel of the local community that many residents enjoy visiting, particularly when the sun is shining during the summer months. 'I hope that members of the community are enjoying these floral displays too.' Ben Edmunds and Leanne Bill lease Lliswerry Pond from Newport City Council through their company, Angling Watch UK. He said: 'We pride ourselves in being at the heart of our community, and we're delighted to have benefited positively from the dismantling of the cannabis factory last year. 'Our floral displays look fantastic – the marigolds, busy lizzies and wild flowers from Keep Wales Tidy are flowering beautifully in the raised beds. "We have an excellent working relationship with Gwent Police and the neighbourhood policing team at Alway and I want to thank the local community for their continued support." If you have any information on drug supply in your area, no matter how big or small you think it might be, please get in touch with Gwent Police. The production, sale and supply of illegal drugs can have far-reaching effects on our communities, and we'll continue to do all we can to take action and protect vulnerable people from harm. Anyone with relevant information can contact police via our website, call on 101, or send us a direct message on our Facebook or X channels, so that we can act. You can also call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111, with information or visit their website.

Man responded to Facebook post and it ended up costing him more than £1,200
Man responded to Facebook post and it ended up costing him more than £1,200

Wales Online

time2 hours ago

  • Wales Online

Man responded to Facebook post and it ended up costing him more than £1,200

Man responded to Facebook post and it ended up costing him more than £1,200 James Joyce claimed he 'did everything by the book' - but it turned out to be untrue A man has been ordered to pay a total of £1,274 after taking away waste despite not having a licence to do so (Image: Neath Port Talbot Council ) A man has been ordered to pay more than £1,200 after responding to a Facebook post asking someone to remove waste even though he was not licensed to do so. Unknown to James Joyce, 45, of Llangyfelach Road, Swansea, the Facebook post was part of Operation Walt - a joint "test purchase" operation to combat unlicensed waste carriers by Neath Port Talbot Council with partners South Wales Police. ‌ After Joyce responded to the social media post, he removed the waste advertised for £40 from Lonlas Village Workshops in October of last year. He assured a member of staff he spoke to at the workshops "he did everything by the book". Don't miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here . ‌ After driving away with the waste, Joyce was stopped and spoken to by waste enforcement officers. A check confirmed that he did not have a licence to transport waste so he was issued an Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for the offence. As payment was not received, a reminder letter was sent to Joyce who made no contact with waste enforcement officers and as such a final reminder letter was sent out via first class post in November last year. Article continues below Later, after the FPN was not still not paid he was prosecuted for carrying controlled waste, contrary to s1(5) of the Control of Pollution (amendment) Act 1989. At Swansea Magistrates Court on Thursday, May 29, Joyce pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined £615, ordered to pay costs of £413 and given a £246 victim surcharge - a total of £1,274. Councillor Scott Jones, Neath Port Talbot Council's cabinet member for streetscene, said: "The cheap and unlawful removal of waste by unlicensed persons, has an effect on the local economy in that it presents unfair competition to legitimate businesses and this case shows the council and its partners will use every power available to them to bring to justice anyone who moves waste without the proper licence being in place."

Rough sleeping to be decriminalised with 1824 law finally scrapped
Rough sleeping to be decriminalised with 1824 law finally scrapped

Metro

time2 hours ago

  • Metro

Rough sleeping to be decriminalised with 1824 law finally scrapped

Rough sleeping will no longer be a crime in the UK as the government abolishes a 'cruel' 200-year-old law. The Vagrancy Act 1824 was introduced amid a spiralling homelessness crisis after the Industrial Revolution. Most of the act has been repealed, though some are still in force in England and Wales to police begging and rough sleeping. But the government announced today it will scrap the bill 'for good' by Spring next year. On any given night last autumn, 4,667 people were sleeping rough, a 164% increase from 2010, according to official figures. In 2023, 298 people were convicted under the act. The Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: 'We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society, who deserve dignity and support. More Trending 'No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by scrapping this cruel and outdated law, we are making sure that can never happen again.' Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: 'This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety. 'For 200 years, the Vagrancy Act has meant that people who are homeless are treated as criminals and second-class citizens. It has punished people for trying to stay safe and done nothing to address why people become homeless in the first place. 'Ending the use of the Vagrancy Act recognises a shameful history of persecuting people for poverty and destitution, something that figures like William Wilberforce and Winston Churchill warned against in their opposition to the Act.' Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ Or you can submit your videos and pictures here. For more stories like this, check our news page. Follow on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here. MORE: Sizewell C nuclear plant gets £14,200,000,000 green light from government MORE: Seven predictions for what Rachel Reeves could reveal in her spending review MORE: Government finally reveals who will get winter fuel payout after U-turn

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store