TADAMON, Syria — On Monday, Syrian security forces announced they had captured three individuals connected to the execution of numerous civilians by government troops in Damascus back in 2013, during the second year of a civil war that has now spanned over a decade.
The arrests took place in Tadamon, a suburb of Damascus next to the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, where streets that once witnessed mass killings were heavily patrolled by security and police vehicles. Armed, masked men moved through the dilapidated buildings, remnants of a conflict that had turned the area into a battleground between government and opposition forces.
In 2022, a leaked video from April 16, 2013, surfaced, displaying chilling scenes of the executions. The nearly seven-minute footage featured members of Syria’s infamous Military Intelligence Branch 227 leading around 40 blindfolded prisoners into an abandoned structure in Tadamon. The prisoners, with their hands bound, were systematically shot as they were forced into a trench filled with old tires.
Among those detained was Monzer Al-Jazairi, a former operative with military security and a resident of the Zahira neighborhood. Al-Jazairi, surrounded by security personnel, detailed how his unit used to collect detainees from checkpoints, execute them, and then destroy the buildings afterward. He estimated that he and his colleagues were responsible for around 500 deaths.
It remains uncertain whether Al-Jazairi’s statements were made voluntarily or under pressure.
Damascus Security Chief Lt. Col. Abdul Rahman Al-Dabbagh supported this figure, mentioning that other arrests had corroborated these accounts. “Many of those executed were gathered at checkpoints and security detention centers before being brought to the Tadamon neighborhood for execution,” Al-Dabbagh stated.
The other two individuals taken into custody were named as Somer Mohammed Al-Mahmoud and Imad Mohammed Al-Mahmoud.
In the aftermath of some of the most horrific massacres and widespread disappearances throughout the Syrian conflict, many alleged war crimes have gone uninvestigated and continue to evade justice.
Following the ousting of Assad, Syrian security forces, now under the management of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once linked to al-Qaida, have been actively pursuing and detaining remnants of the previous government and military nationwide.
“The operation remains active to capture everyone involved in violations and massacres committed against Syrians,” Al-Dabbagh confirmed.
