Syrian massacre clip: Ex-intel officer held

Damascus: Syria on Friday arrested former intelligence officer Amjad Yousef, who appeared in a leaked video showing the 2013 massacre of dozens of prisoners. Yousef was apprehended in Hama province, where he had been in hiding. The interior ministry released a photo of Yousef in prison uniform, following a broader crackdown on security agency members blamed for atrocities during the decade-long conflict.

The 2022 leaked video shows members of Military Intelligence Branch 227 executing nearly 40 blindfolded, bound prisoners in Tadamon, a Damascus suburb. The victims were pushed into a trench and shot, with gunmen later burning the bodies to erase evidence.

The arrest follows the December 2024 ousting of former President Bashar Assad, who fled to Russia.  US special envoy Tom Barrack praised the move on X, calling it “a powerful step away from impunity towards accountability” and a shift towards justice in the new political landscape. The conflict, which began in March 2011, has left 5,00,000 people dead and over 10,00,000 wounded. Authorities said on Friday they would continue to pursue all individuals invol­ved in the Tadamon killings. In March 2023, the US State Department had already banned Yousef and his family from entering the US.