DAMASCUS — Syria’s Interior Minister Anas Khattab was seen confronting Amjad Youssef in a newly released video, hours after authorities announced the arrest of the main suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre in Damascus.
In footage circulating on social media, Khattab directly questioned Youssef in an angry tone, asking: “Don’t you have children?”
Youssef, appearing subdued compared with previously released footage from the time of the killings, replied hesitantly that he had a daughter and a son.
Khattab continued by asking how he could attack people in such a way and said the massacre reflected “a lack of humanity.”
Earlier Friday, Syrian authorities said security forces arrested Youssef during an operation in a rural area of Hama Governorate.
In a statement, the Interior Ministry said Youssef was the primary perpetrator behind the mass killings in the Tadamon district of Damascus during Syria’s civil war.
The case drew international attention after graphic video evidence surfaced documenting the killings.
In 2022, The Guardian published leaked footage it said showed members of the former Assad-era Military Intelligence Branch 227 executing at least 41 people before burning their bodies.
The video identified Youssef as the officer seen shooting blindfolded and bound detainees.
The massacre took place on April 16, 2013, near the Othman Mosque in Tadamon, where at least 41 people were killed and their bodies thrown into a pit, in what became one of the most documented atrocities of the Syrian conflict.
Since taking power, Syria’s current administration has repeatedly announced arrests of individuals accused of abuses against civilians during the 2011–2024 conflict.
In December 2024, former President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long rule. A transitional administration led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa was formed in January 2025.
Source: Saudi Gazette