US Condemns Tadamon Massacre In Syria, Demands Accountability https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3622241/us-condemns-tadamon-massacre-syria-demands-accountability
US Condemns Tadamon Massacre In Syria, Demands Accountability
The gunman with a fishing hat in a still from the video. Photograph: Guardian video
The US State Department condemned on Saturday the atrocities depicted in a recently released video, showing blindfolded, unarmed civilians being shot point-blank by an Assad regime official before falling into a mass grave.
The 2013 massacre in the area of Tadamon, Syria, reportedly killed hundreds of Syrian civilians.
Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that the massacre suggests additional evidence of war crimes committed by the Assad regime, and is yet another harrowing example of the horrors that the Syrian people have endured for more than a decade.
The State Department then commended the brave individuals who work to bring Assad and his regime to justice, often at the risk of their own lives.
“This includes the vital work of Syrian civil society organizations to document violations of the law of armed conflict as well as human rights abuses and violations and their efforts to advance transitional justice,” Price stressed.
He said that the US government remains firmly committed to securing accountability for the atrocities the Assad regime continues to inflict upon Syrians.
“Accountability and justice for the crimes, violations, and abuses committed against Syrians are essential to a stable, just, and enduring peace in Syria and the region,” the US spokesman noted.
Last Wednesday, the Guardian released 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.
Meanwhile, the US State Department issued a statement on the results of Thursday’s meeting between representatives of the Arab League, Egypt, the European Union, France, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States to discuss Syria.
The representatives had expressed their lasting commitment to alleviating the suffering of the Syrian people and welcomed the upcoming EU-hosted Brussels 6 Conference for the future of Syria and the region.
“We emphasized the urgency of continuing to provide meaningful and sufficient support to Syrian refugees and host countries,” the representatives stressed.
They also reiterated their steadfast support for UNSE Geir Pedersen’s efforts to push forward a political solution that brings an end to the Syrian crisis based on UNSCR 2254 and respects the unity and territorial integrity of Syria.
“We stressed the importance of sustaining and increasing UN-mandated aid cross-border into Syria, the re-authorization of the cross border aid delivery mechanism, that allows for life-saving humanitarian assistance to reach the Syrian people, and continued implementation of UNSCR 2585,” the representative said in their joint statement.
On Anniversary of the Fall of Bashar Assad, Syrians and Their Country Struggle to Heal https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5217056-anniversary-fall-bashar-assad%C2%A0syrians%C2%A0and-their-country-struggle%C2%A0%C2%A0heal%C2%A0
Syrians shout slogans and wave flags outside the Umayyad Mosque before a prayer held ahead of celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP)
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On Anniversary of the Fall of Bashar Assad, Syrians and Their Country Struggle to Heal
Syrians shout slogans and wave flags outside the Umayyad Mosque before a prayer held ahead of celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP)
A year ago, Mohammad Marwan found himself stumbling, barefoot and dazed, out of Syria’s notorious Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus as opposition forces pushing toward the capital threw open its doors to release the prisoners.
Arrested in 2018 for fleeing compulsory military service, the father of three had cycled through four other lockups before landing in Saydnaya, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that became synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the rule of now ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
He recalled guards waiting to welcome new prisoners with a gauntlet of beatings and electric shocks. “They said, ‘You have no rights here, and we’re not calling an ambulance unless we have a dead body,’” Marwan said.
His Dec. 8, 2024 homecoming to a house full of relatives and friends in his village in Homs province was joyful.
But in the year since then, he has struggled to overcome the physical and psychological effects of his six-year imprisonment. He suffered from chest pain and difficulty breathing that turned out to be the result of tuberculosis. He was beset by crippling anxiety and difficulty sleeping.
He’s now undergoing treatment for tuberculosis and attending therapy sessions at a center in Homs focused on rehabilitating former prisoners, and Marwan said his physical and mental situations have gradually improved.
“We were in something like a state of death” in Saydnaya, he said. “Now we’ve come back to life.”
A country struggling to heal
Marwan's country is also struggling to heal a year after the Assad dynasty’s repressive 50-year reign came to an end following 14 years of civil war that left an estimated half a million people dead, millions more displaced, and the country battered and divided.
Assad's downfall came as a shock, even to the opposition factions who unseated him. In late November 2024, groups in the country’s northwest — led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an opposition group whose then-leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is now the country’s interim president — launched an offensive on the city of Aleppo, aiming to take it back from Assad’s forces.
They were startled when the Syrian army collapsed with little resistance, first in Aleppo, then the key cities of Hama and Homs, leaving the road to Damascus open. Meanwhile, opposition groups in the country’s south mobilized to make their own push toward the capital.
06 December 2025, Syria, Damascus: People walk through al-Hamedya market in Damascus, which is decorated by flags marking the first anniversary of the fall of Assad. (dpa)
The opposition took Damascus on Dec. 8 while Assad was whisked away by Russian forces and remains in exile in Moscow. But Russia, a longtime Assad ally, did not intervene militarily to defend him and has since established ties with the country's new rulers and maintained its bases on the Syrian coast.
Hassan Abdul Ghani, spokesperson for Syrian Ministry of Defense, said HTS and its allies had launched a major organizational overhaul after suffering heavy losses in 2019 and 2020, when Assad’s forces regained control of a number of formerly opposition-controlled areas.
The opposition offensive in November 2024 was not initially aimed at seizing Damascus but was meant to preempt an expected offensive by Assad’s forces in opposition-held Idlib, Abdul Ghani said.
“The defunct regime was preparing a very large campaign against the liberated areas, and it wanted to finish the Idlib file,” he said. Launching an attack on Aleppo “was a military solution to expand the radius of the battle and thus safeguard the liberated interior areas.”
In timing the attack, the opposition fighters also aimed to take advantage of the fact that Russia was distracted by its war in Ukraine and that the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, another Assad ally, was licking its wounds after a damaging war with Israel.
When the Syrian army’s defenses collapsed, the opposition pressed on, “taking advantage of every golden opportunity,” Abdul Ghani said.
Successes abroad, challenges at home
Since his sudden ascent to power, Sharaa has launched a diplomatic charm offensive, building ties with Western and Arab countries that shunned Assad and Sharaa.
A crowning moment of his success in the international arena: in November, he became the first Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946 to visit Washington.
But the diplomatic successes have been offset by outbreaks of sectarian violence in which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite and Druze minorities were killed. Local Druze groups have now set up their own de facto government and military in the southern Sweida province.
There are ongoing tensions between the new government in Damascus and Kurdish-led forces controlling the country’s northeast, despite an agreement inked in March that was supposed to lead to a merger of their forces.
Israel is wary of Syria's new government even though Sharaa has said he wants no conflict with the country. Israel has seized a formerly UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria and launched regular airstrikes and incursions since Assad’s fall. Negotiations for a security agreement have stalled.
Meanwhile, the country’s economy has remained sluggish, despite the lifting of most Western sanctions. The World Bank estimates that rebuilding the country’s war-damaged areas will cost $216 billion.
A Boy Scout band parades down a street during celebrations marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP)
Rebuilding largely an individual effort
The rebuilding that has taken place so far has largely been on a small scale, with individual owners paying to fix their own damaged houses and businesses.
On the outskirts of Damascus, the once-vibrant Yarmouk Palestinian camp today largely resembles a moonscape. Taken over by a series of militant groups then bombarded by government planes, the camp was all but abandoned after 2018.
Since Assad’s fall, a steady stream of former residents have been coming back.
The most heavily damaged areas remain largely deserted but on the main street leading into the camp, bit by bit, blasted-out walls have been replaced in the buildings that remain structurally sound. Shops have reopened and families have come back to their apartments. But any sort of larger reconstruction initiative appears to still be far off.
“It’s been a year since the regime fell. I would hope they could remove the old destroyed houses and build towers,” said Maher al-Homsi, who is fixing his damaged home to move back to it even though the area doesn't even have a water connection.
His neighbor, Etab al-Hawari, was willing to cut the new authorities some slack.
“They inherited an empty country — the banks are empty, the infrastructure was robbed, the homes were robbed," she said.
Bassam Dimashqi, a dentist from Damascus, said of the country after Assad’s fall, “Of course it’s better, there’s freedom of some sort.”
But he remains anxious about the still-precarious security situation and its impact on the still-flagging economy.
“The job of the state is to impose security, and once you impose security, everything else will come,” he said. “The security situation is what encourages investors to come and do projects.”
Marwan, the former prisoner, says the post-Assad situation in Syria is “far better” than before. But he has also been struggling economically.
From time to time, he picks up labor that pays only 50,000 or 60,000 Syrian pounds daily, the equivalent of about $5.
Once he finishes his tuberculosis treatment, he said, he plans to leave to Lebanon in search of better-paid work.
Israel’s Netanyahu to Discuss Second Phase of Gaza Plan with Trump Later This Month https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5216949-israel%E2%80%99s-netanyahu-discuss-second-phase-gaza-plan-trump-later-month
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz address a joint press conference in Jerusalem, 07 December 2025. (EPA)
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Israel’s Netanyahu to Discuss Second Phase of Gaza Plan with Trump Later This Month
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz address a joint press conference in Jerusalem, 07 December 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the second phase of a US plan to end the war in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed.
Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with US President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan's second phase was achieved.
The prime minister's office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House "in the near future", although a date for the visit has not yet been made public.
Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is entering its second month, although both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce agreement.
Netanyahu said that it was important to ensure Hamas not only upholds the ceasefire but also follows through on "their commitment" to the plan to disarm and for Gaza to be demilitarized.
Israel retained control of 53% of Gaza under the first phase of Trump's plan, which involved the release of hostages held by fighters in Gaza and of Palestinians detained by Israel. The final hostage remains to be handed over are those of an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 fighting Gazan gunmen who had invaded Israel.
"We'll get him out," Netanyahu said.
Since the ceasefire started in October, the militant group has reestablished itself in the rest of Gaza.
GERMAN CHANCELLOR: PHASE TWO MUST COME NOW
According to the plan, Israel is to pull back further in the second phase as a transitional authority is established in Gaza and a multinational security force is deployed, Hamas is disarmed, and reconstruction begins.
A multinational coordination center has been established in Israel, but there are no deadlines in the plan and officials involved say that efforts to advance it have stalled.
"What will be the timeline? What are the forces that are coming in? Will we have international forces? If not, what are the alternatives? These are all topics that are being discussed," Netanyahu said, describing them as central issues.
Merz said that Germany was willing to help rebuild Gaza but would wait for Netanyahu's meeting with Trump, and for clarity on what Washington was prepared to do, before Berlin decides what it would contribute but that phase two "must come now".
Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes since the ceasefire came into effect that it says are fending off attacks or destroying militant infrastructure. Gaza's health ministry says 373 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire started. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed by gunmen.
Netanyahu said that he would also discuss with Trump "opportunities for peace", an apparent reference to US efforts for Israel to establish formal ties with Arab and Muslim states.
"We believe there's a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states, and a path also to establish a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbors," Netanyahu said, asserting Israel would always insist on security control of the West Bank.
Trump has said he promised Muslim leaders that Israel would not annex the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu's government is backing the development of Jewish settlements.
The "question of political annexation" of the West Bank remains a subject of discussion, Netanyahu said.
Al-Sharaa: Israel’s Push for a Buffer Zone in Southern Syria Puts the Region at Riskhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5216815-al-sharaa-israel%E2%80%99s-push-buffer-zone-southern-syria-puts-region-risk
Al-Sharaa: Israel’s Push for a Buffer Zone in Southern Syria Puts the Region at Risk
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks during the 23rd annual Doha Forum (Reuters).
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa warned on Saturday that Israel’s effort to establish a demilitarized buffer zone in southern Syria risks pushing the country into a “dangerous place.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, al-Sharaa said US-mediated negotiations with Israel remain underway to address the “security concerns” of both sides.
Following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military positions, saying its goal is to prevent the new authorities from seizing the former army’s weapons arsenal.
Over the past year, Israel has repeatedly publicized ground operations and arrests of individuals it accuses of “terrorist” activity in southern Syria. Israeli forces have also entered the Golan Heights disengagement zone established under the 1974 cease-fire agreement.
Al-Sharaa said all major international actors back Syria “in its demand that Israel withdraw and reposition to the lines of Dec. 8.” He emphasized that Damascus insists on full respect for the 1974 accord, describing it as a durable, internationally supported agreement.
“Tampering with this agreement, while proposing alternatives such as a new buffer zone, could drive us into dangerous territory,” he said.
Al-Sharaa accused Israel of “fighting ghosts” and “searching for enemies” in the wake of the Gaza war, adding that since assuming office a year ago he has sent “positive messages about peace and regional stability.”
Thirteen people were killed in late November during an Israeli incursion into the southern town of Beit Jin, a raid Damascus denounced as a “war crime.” Israel said the operation targeted suspects linked to the ISIS group.
Though Syria and Israel maintain no diplomatic relations and remain technically at war, several US-brokered ministerial meetings have been held in recent months.
“Negotiations are ongoing, and the United States is fully engaged,” al-Sharaa said, noting broad international support for addressing “legitimate security concerns so both sides can feel secure.”
He asked: “Syria is the one under attack, so who should be demanding a buffer zone and withdrawal?”
In September, al-Sharaa warned in New York of the risk of renewed Middle East instability if Damascus and Tel Aviv fail to reach a security arrangement, accusing Israel of “delaying negotiations and continuing to violate our airspace and territory.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces deployed in the buffer zone outside the occupied Golan Heights in November, a move Damascus condemned as “illegitimate.”
Domestically, al-Sharaa said all segments of Syrian society are now represented in government “on the basis of competence, not sectarian quotas.” Syria, he said, is charting a “new path” for post-conflict governance. He acknowledged the country inherited “deep problems” from the former regime and said investigative bodies are working to address alleged crimes in the coastal region and Sweida.
He stressed that Syria is “a state of law, not a collection of sects,” and that accountability and institutional reform are essential to rebuilding the state.
The Syrian president added that economic revitalization is crucial for lasting stability, which is why Damascus continues to argue for the lifting of the Caesar Act sanctions.
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