An informed source has uncovered the identities of 3 victims of one family, in the video leaked by the Guardian last week, about the massacre of the “Al-Tadamon” neighbourhood of Damascus that occurred in 2013.
The video showed members of the Syrian regime forces leading blindfolded and handcuffed civilian detainees, then shooting them after throwing them into a pit.
According to the source, who preferred not to reveal his name and his kinship with the victims, a father and two of his children were executed in this massacre.
The source told Zaman al-Wasl that his relative, “Shaman al-Daher”, 63 years old and belonging to the Turkmen ethnic group, appeared in the video where he was executed by firing squad. He was arrested in a raid on his house on April 16th, 2013, with three of his children. The second victim is his son, Omar Shaman al-Daher, 32.
The body of the second son, “Mutlaq Shaman Al-Daher”, his mother Dalal, born in 1980, also appeared in the video. She was lying among the corpses inside the hole, and “Mutlaq” was wearing a black striped shirt, the source added.
There is a third son, Bassam, who was arrested with his two brothers and their father. He did not appear in the video, and his picture did not appear inside the death pit.
In April 2013, regime forces raided the house of “Shaman al-Daher” located on al-Turkman Street, adjacent to “Nisreen” Street in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
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They arrested him and each of his three sons, Omar, Mutlaq and Bassam, and took them to an unknown destination.
Earlier, activists revealed the identity of “Wassim Siam”, who appeared in one of the videos while being led with his eyes closed by the intelligence officer, “Amjad Youssef”, who threw him into a large pit and shot him like dozens of other victims before setting fire to the pit.
Starvation, siege and arrests paved the way for the “Tadamon” massacre
A Syrian journalist recounted details of the Tadamon massacre in the southern suburb of Damascus that took place on April 16, 2013, in which 41 civilians were killed, including children and women, before a shocking report by the Guardian days ago.
Matar Ismail, who was living in southern Damascus at the time, confirmed that the leaked footage depicts the killing of 41 victims, but the total of the clips is 27 clips, which monitor 288 victims who were martyred in 2013. They were executed in the same way and in the same place, and then they were buried and burned in this hole.
The Istanbul-based journalist told Zaman al-Wasl that the massacre took place in the southeastern part of the Tadamon neighbourhood in south Damascus, two-thirds of which was controlled by the regime, while the opposition controlled the rest, during the early years of the Syrian revolution.
Most of the victims of the al-Tadamon neighbourhood massacre were civilians dressed in neat clothes, which indicates that their arrest was not from a long time ago and did not show any signs of torture. They were led to this pit and were filtered within half an hour and subsequently burned.
Ismail confirmed that the 41 victims of the massacre were mostly residents of the “al-Tadamon” neighbourhood or from the surrounding areas, who were arrested from the “Yarmouk” refugee camp checkpoint, which separated it from the “al-Midan” neighbourhood.
Ismail pointed out that the regime forces committed other massacres, as bloody as this one.
The journalist has videos of executions and liquidations against civilians, some of whom were killed in their homes after the rebels withdrew from the “Tadamon” neighbourhood.
At that time – as the source recounts – he entered the “al-Tadamon” neighbourhood and filmed a report broadcast on the “al-Jazeera” channel.
After the rebels took control of the camp in December 2012, residents were forced to go out by the hundreds a day towards Damascus to secure their needs after a partial siege on the area, and then return before sunset, with the checkpoint closed in the evening by the regime, and some of them escaped from the siege without returning.
The area was exposed to regime snipers, who were often amused by targeting civilians, causing a number of casualties.
Genocide
Ismail pointed out that the area surrounding the regime forces’ checkpoint is like a black hole. It extends from the area of the hall buildings, the “Al-Majid” mosque, the “Al-Bashir Mosque”, all the way to the automatic bakery between “al-Zahira and al-Tadamon.” This place was a hotbed for gangs and armed men affiliated with a number of security and military agencies, the most important of which are the National Defense Forces and Military Intelligence Branch 227.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
