Newly-leaked video shows 2013 Syrian regime massacre in Damascus suburb

Footage depicting a horrific massacre in Tadamon, a suburb of Damascus in Syria, shows the killing of 41  people by a member of Syria’s security forces, The Guardian reported.

The video, date stamped 16 April 2013, depicts a group of blindfolded and handcuffed detainees who are shot dead by a Syrian intelligence officer as they are forced to run towards an execution pit. 

The footage was leaked by a newly-recruited Syrian soldier who reportedly stumbled upon it on a laptop he was given after enlisting in the army. He leaked the video to researchers Annsar Shahhoud and Professor Uğur Üngör from the University of Amsterdam’s Holocaust and Genocide Center.

The video helped the researchers identify the killer shown in the video as Amjad Youssuf, a major in the notorious branch 227 of the Syrian military intelligence service.

The chilling footage is part of a growing body of evidence highlighting war crimes committed by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad and his allies have been routinely accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Syrian conflict, in which over 500,000 people have died.

Forces loyal to the regime have been accused of massacring civilians, killing prisoners, using outlawed chemical weapons, and bombing schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and residential areas.

In March, a New York Times investigation outlined the discovery of two new mass graves with thousands of bodies, many of whom were likely prisoners killed at the notorious Sednaya prison near Damascus.