Amjad Youssef

Amjad Youssef was born in 1986 in the Ghab Plain village of Nabe al-Tayeb northwest of Hama, and grew up in a large family of 10 siblings. == Career ==

Youssef joined the Military Intelligence Academy in Maysalun in 2004, and became a warrant officer and deputy head of Branch 227 of the Syrian Military Intelligence where he was responsible for investigating, arresting, torturing and killing political opponents during the 2011 Syrian civil war. He commanded battles in the south of Damascus in Tadamon and Yarmouk, where he was responsible for security operations until 2021, and in 2022 worked at the Kafr Sousa security complex in Damascus. == Massacre ==

On 16 April 2013, the Tadamon massacre occurred. Syrian Ba'athist forces headed by Youssef brought around 288 civilians to a ditch prepared for cremation. The soldiers and militiamen mocked the blindfolded and bound civilians before they shot over 40 of them, including 7 women and 15 children, pretending to lead them to safety and telling them to run toward the ditch. Youssef was identified in 2021 as one of the leading perpetrators, having been recorded shooting several blindfolded and bound civilians at the ditch. and the European Union placed sanctions on him for his involvement in the massacre, followed by the United Kingdom in 2025. After the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, Youssef hid from neighbors and authorities for over a year, moving at night between his family's rural home and the forested mountains. == Arrest ==

On 24 April 2026, Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab announced on X that Amjad Youssef was apprehended in the Ghab Plain area in Hama after a successful security operation. Security forces had surveilled Youssef for about two weeks, secured the area by air and by checkpoints, and finally arrested him in his bedroom without incident. Authorities also arrested Youssef's father and several individuals for sheltering him. == References ==