Abu Mohammed, a retired engineer in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon, still recalls the acrid smell that haunted his neighbourhood from 2012. Living under Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship, he kept his suspicions to himself. The smell, he later learned, came from mass graves where regime forces burned bodies after executing civilians.
In April 2022, the Guardian published leaked video footage geolocated to Tadamon, dated April 2013. It showed soldiers from Assad's military intelligence Branch 227 pulling blindfolded civilians from a white minibus and executing them into a pit filled with bodies and tyres, then setting it alight. Researchers Annsar Shahhoud and Uğur Ümit Üngör identified the main shooter as Amjad Youssef, who confessed to his crimes when confronted.
With Assad now gone, residents are breaking their silence. Abu Mohammed and over 20 others spoke to the Guardian, revealing that atrocities were far worse than initially reported, involving many perpetrators beyond Youssef. The leaked videos document the killing of 288 civilians, including seven women and 12 children.
Survivors demand justice, but some perpetrators remain in the neighbourhood or even work with the new government. The Tadamon massacres serve as a stark reminder of the horrors endured under Assad's rule, and the long road to accountability.
