Amjad Youssef admitted to taking part in carrying out a mass killing of dozens of people in the al-Tadamon neighborhood in Damascus, confirming that he is the person who appears in the video documenting the pit massacre in al-Tadamon.
In a video of the investigation proceedings, published by the Syrian Ministry of Interior late on Saturday, 25 April, Youssef said he joined the military in 2004 and rose through the ranks until he reached the rank of senior warrant officer. He added that he took part, with a National Defense member named Najib al-Halabi, in bringing about 40 people who were classified at the time as “terrorists or terrorism financiers.”
He said there were no other members present during the operation, and that he shot the victims himself, sometimes after lowering them into a pit and sometimes before that. He noted that Najib also fired at them “until they were killed.”
Youssef added that after carrying out the killings, they placed tires above and below the bodies, then set them on fire to hide the smell, before the pit was later filled in.
Responding to a question about his responsibility, Youssef said he bore the decision “himself,” denying that he had received direct orders from officers or military commanders.
However, he said the selection of victims was not his personal decision, but was based on information and reports indicating their connection to, or support for, armed groups.
Contradicts Chain of Command
Youssef’s confessions contradict the Guardian investigation that first exposed the massacre in 2022. The massacre was not an isolated act, but took place within a chain of command and an organized security structure affiliated with the Military Intelligence Directorate.
The investigation said Amjad Youssef was a member of Branch 227, known as the Region Branch, and carried out tasks within an agency that operated according to a clear hierarchy. This means that such operations, from arresting the victims to transporting them, then carrying out the mass execution and hiding the evidence, could not have taken place without coordination and implicit or direct approval from higher command levels.
The Arrest of Amjad Youssef
In the Interior Ministry video that included Amjad Youssef’s confessions, the head of Internal Security in Hama governorate, Brigadier General Mulham al-Shantout, appeared and congratulated the Syrian people and the residents of al-Tadamon neighborhood on his arrest.
The video published by the ministry documented the arrest operation and its planning.
Al-Shantout said that at dawn on Friday, 24 April, after days of planning, aerial surveillance preparations, special arrest arrangements, and the imposition of more than one security cordon to carry out the operation, security forces entered Amjad Youssef’s home while he was in his bedroom.
Amjad Youssef was unable to resist the authorities carrying out the operation on the ground, according to al-Shantout.
He was then taken to the competent authorities to begin investigations into the crimes attributed to him in al-Tadamon neighborhood and elsewhere, according to the internal security commander.
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