Syrian authorities have arrested three men suspected of involvement in the execution of hundreds of civilians by government forces in Damascus in 2013, two years into the country’s 13-year civil war.
Security forces, accompanied by dozens of police and security trucks, carried out the arrests in Tadamon, a Damascus suburb near the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. The operation took place in the same streets that once witnessed mass executions, now lined with hollowed-out buildings—remnants of a war that turned the district into a battleground between government forces and opposition fighters.
A leaked video from 2022, dated April 16, 2013, allegedly depicted chilling footage of the executions. The nearly seven-minute clip showed members of Syria’s notorious Military Intelligence Branch 227 leading approximately 40 blindfolded prisoners, hands tied behind their backs, into an abandoned building in Tadamon. The gunmen then pushed or kicked each prisoner into a trench filled with old tyres, shooting them as they fell.
Among those arrested was Monzer Al-Jazairi, a former operative with military security and a resident of the Zahira neighbourhood. Speaking to The Associated Press, Al-Jazairi described how detainees were brought from checkpoints, executed under buildings, and then buried beneath rubble when the structures were detonated. It was unclear whether his statements were made voluntarily or under duress.
“Each batch consisted of around 25 people,” he said, adding that there was a gap of approximately a week between executions. He estimated that he and his colleagues killed about 500 people.
Lt. Col. Abdul Rahman Al-Dabbagh, Damascus Security Chief, confirmed this figure, citing confessions from those arrested.
“Many of those executed were detained at checkpoints and security centres before being transported to Tadamon for execution,” Al-Dabbagh told the AP.
The other two suspects arrested were identified as Somer Mohammed Al-Mahmoud and Imad Mohammed Al-Mahmoud.
Despite years passing since some of the Syrian war’s most brutal massacres and mass disappearances, many crimes remain uninvestigated and unpunished.
Following Assad’s removal from power, Syrian security forces—now under the leadership of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—have been actively tracking and arresting former government and military officials across the country.
“The operation to apprehend all those responsible for violations and massacres against Syrians is ongoing,” Al-Dabbagh stated.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
