Amjad Youssef admits to solidarity massacre: "I did not receive orders from anyone"

Newly arrested criminal Amjad Youssef confessed to his participation in carrying out a mass murder in Damascus's Tadamon neighborhood, confirming that he was the person who appeared in the video that documented what was later known as the "Al-Hafra massacre" or the Tadamon massacre.  

 His confessions came in a video recorded by the Syrian Ministry of Interior on the evening of Saturday, April 25, which included scenes from the preliminary investigations, and Youssef said in his statement that he joined the military in 2004 and rose through the ranks until he reached the rank of first assistant, explaining that he participated with a member of the "National Defense" named Najib al-Halabi in transporting about 40 people to the site of the massacre.

He added that the massacre was carried out without the presence of other elements, and that he was the one who fired the shots, while his companion was involved in it "until the mission was completed".

After the killings, they used to put tires on top and under the bodies and set them on fire to hide the smells, he said, before the pit was later filled.

As for responsibility, Youssef said he bears responsibility for what happened "personally," denying that he had received direct orders from any officer or military commander, but clarified that the selection of the victims was not an individual decision, but was based on reports accusing them of being associated with armed groups.

British Guardian investigation

 A 2022 Guardian investigation, which provided the first documentation of the massacre, revealed that the operation was not an isolated individual act, but rather took place within an organised security structure of the Military Intelligence Division.

According to the investigation, Yousef was working within the Area 227 branch and carrying out tasks within a clear hierarchical apparatus, making the execution of arrests, transfers, mass executions, and the concealment of evidence impossible without coordination and approval from higher levels of leadership.

Details of the arrest

 The video, released by the Interior Ministry, included footage from Youssef's arrest, showing the commander of Internal Security in Hama province, Brig. Gen. Mulham al-Shantoot, congratulating Syrians and the residents of the Tadamon neighborhood on his arrest. The operation was carried out at dawn on Friday (April 24th), after days of planning, which included an aerial survey, special arrangements and the imposition of several security cordons around the targeted site, Shantoot said.

According to Al-Shantoot, the security forces entered Youssef's house while he was in his bedroom, and he was unable to resist the force, after which he was taken to the competent authorities to begin investigations into the crimes attributed to him in the Tadamon neighborhood and others.

The most trending news on social media

The news of the arrest of Amjad Youssef during the past 24 hours has become one of the most trending topics on social media platforms, as the wide interaction showed a state of consensus among Syrians on the need to prosecute all those involved in the violations that the country has witnessed over the past years.

Many expressed hope that the arrest of the main suspect in the Tadamon massacre would be the first step in a long path of arrests and accountability for all those who committed crimes against Syrians without exception to the implementation of transitional justice that all Syrians are waiting for.

In the same neighborhood of Tadamon, where the massacre took place in 2013, widespread popular celebrations took place following the announcement of his arrest in a scene that reflected the extent of the wound left by the incident among the residents, and expressions of joy spread to the Syrian governorates, especially in Damascus, where they considered what happened to be the beginning of a long-awaited path towards justice and accountability.

Solidarity Massacre

The Tadamon massacre took place on April 16, 2013, and killed 41 civilians, and their bodies were thrown into a large pit in the Damascus neighborhood of Tadamon by the regime forces, and human bones were later found in the area, according to what the media monitored on December 20, 2024.

The British newspaper "The Guardian" was the first to talk about the massacre, as it published on April 27, 2022, a video clip showing the forces of the "Branch 227" of the regime's military intelligence killing at least 41 people and burning their bodies in the Tadamon neighborhood, and in the clip, "Amjad Youssef", whose face was clearly visible in the photos, was seen shooting at civilians who were arrested blindfolded and handcuffed before throwing them into a hole in the center of the Damascus neighborhood.