Syria's Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of Amjad Youssef, the primary suspect accused of carrying out the Al-Tadamun massacre, which occurred in 2013 and killed at least 41 people, though some reports indicated more than 200 civilians died. Concurrently, the first court sessions opened in the trial of Atef Najeeb, former head of the Political Security branch in Daraa, on charges related to violations against protesters beginning in 2011. In absentia proceedings were also included against former president Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad, signaling a broad push for accountability. Zahra al-Barazi, Vice President of the Syrian Transitional Justice Authority, stated, "a legal file is being assembled against Fadi Saqr and that sufficient evidence exists to proceed."
Al-Tadamun Massacre Suspect Captured
Amjad Youssef, the primary suspect in the Al-Tadamun massacre, was captured in the village of Nab’ al-Tayeb in the Hama countryside. Youssef confessed to killing civilians and burning bodies in the Al-Tadamun neighborhood. The Tadamon massacre occurred in 2013. During the leadership of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Youssef served as an intelligence officer responsible for security operations in southern Damascus during the Syrian uprising. A leaked video, which appeared in 2022, showed evidence of crimes committed by Syrian forces, with Youssef's face clearly visible in the footage. The video, date-stamped April 16, 2013, depicted Youssef shooting blindfolded, bound civilians who had been detained. A military recruit filmed the incident and subsequently leaked the video. At the time of the massacre, the Tadamon district was a battlefront contested by Syrian government forces and opposition forces. Youssef, trained in military intelligence, rose through the ranks to become an investigator. Youssef himself had been in hiding since December 2024, following the fall of the Assad government.
Trials Against Former Officials
Syria’s new government has initiated a security campaign to pursue figures from the former leadership. Amidst these efforts, citizens launched a public fundraising campaign to offer a reward for information concerning those accused of atrocities, primarily Amjad Youssef. Several suspects connected to the Tadamon tragedy have been arrested and have confessed to the killings. Separately, Fadi Saqr assumed command of the National Defence Forces (NDF) in Damascus in June 2013.
Human Rights Watch visited the southern Damascus neighborhood of Al-Tadamun in December 2024, where they discovered human remains that exhibited signs consistent with execution. Human Rights Watch subsequently called on the transitional authorities to preserve evidence of war crimes. Additionally, the Presidential Palace issued a decree restricting the distribution of government vehicles to six specific categories, indicating broader administrative reforms. This move comes after the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) faced backlash following revelations of plans to purchase more than 40 vehicles at a cost of $1.8 million.
Building Case Against Fadi Saqr
German police arrested Ahmed al-Harmouni, an associate of Youssef and also accused of involvement in the Tadamon massacre, in August 2023. This arrest concluded a three-year investigation conducted in collaboration with the Syrian Centre for Justice and Accountability. The ongoing investigations and arrests show the new government's commitment to holding perpetrators of past atrocities accountable. The legal file being assembled against Fadi Saqr is part of these broader efforts to address human rights violations committed under the previous regime.
