Angry Syrians Demand ‘Holding Regime Accountable’ for Tadamon Massacre

Snapshot from the video of the Tadamon massacre published by The Guardian
Snapshot from the video of the Tadamon massacre published by The Guardian
TT

Angry Syrians Demand ‘Holding Regime Accountable’ for Tadamon Massacre

Snapshot from the video of the Tadamon massacre published by The Guardian
Snapshot from the video of the Tadamon massacre published by The Guardian

The footage of the Tadamon massacre sparked massive anger among Syrians and opposition activists who called on the international community to hold the Syrian regime accountable for its horrific crimes.

The Guardian released on Wednesday a video clip showing members of branch 227 of the country's military intelligence service carrying out mass executions of civilians in the Tadamon neighborhood, south of Damascus.

The video, dating back to 2013, depicts a group of blindfolded and handcuffed detainees shot dead by a Syrian intelligence officer as they are forced to run toward an execution pit.

It also showed members of the Syrian regime's forces piling bodies on top of each other and burning them.

Opposition activist Ahmed al-Omar said that The Guardian's video and investigative report revealed the mass execution of dozens of civil detainees by the Syrian regime forces in the Tadamon neighborhood.

Omar indicated that the video brought back to people's memory the atrocities and crimes of the regime forces during their raids on Syrian cities and neighborhoods.

He noted that the international community's silence on the regime's crimes against Syrians over the past decade was shocking.

Umm Mazen, 56, the wife of a detainee since 2013, said she felt intense fear and terror when she saw the video.

She indicated that after watching the massacre, she sensed the feeling of every wife and mother whose husband or son is detained by the regime forces and fear that he will be killed in the same way.

The Syrian Islamic Council offered its condolences to the families of the victims of the "horrific crime," adding that the crimes of the Syrian regime continue behind bars.

The statement warned of dire consequences for the returned refugees, adding that a joint constitutional committee or reconciliation is not possible with the presence of these criminals in power.

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces said that the world watched one of the massacres of the criminal Assad regime, adding that it is only one crime out of the thousands of bloody massacres carried out by the government and its allies against the Syrian people.

The Coalition stated that the truth known to Syrians is now clear to the whole world, leaving no room for doubt.

In its statement, the Coalition said the massacre in the video is a well-documented "war crime" with perpetrators' information, adding that it requires fair accountability in the International Criminal Court of the criminal regime.

It stressed that there would be no peace in Syria and the region with the presence of this criminal regime that has committed all kinds of atrocities against the Syrians.

It urged an "international accountability" for the crimes, calling for a fair trial of perpetrators.



Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

 Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
TT

Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

 Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defense minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

It said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects.

In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was hit by a missile, Israeli police said.

Israelis were forced to take shelter across the north as attack drones were launched from Lebanon, the military said. One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, rescue workers said. None were hurt.

An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon's health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 storeys, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows, killing many of its leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening large areas of the southern suburbs, destroying border villages in the south, and striking more widely across Lebanon.

Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

WAR GOALS

Israel's new defense minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

"Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel's right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon - disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes," he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks but the main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement.

The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a UN resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.

The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.

Israel's offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon, causing a humanitarian crisis.

Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area over the last year.