Hundreds of people protested in the Tadamon area of south Damascus on Friday, after Syria’s new authorities reached an agreement with Fadi Saqr, a leader of the former Assad regime’s notorious National Defence Militia, regularising his status and effectively giving him amnesty.
Saqr is believed to have led the National Defence Forces as they committed a horrific massacre in Tadamon, executing at least 41 civilians in April 2013. Some estimates place the number of casualties as high as 288.
The victims were dumped in a mass grave and the massacre was revealed after an investigation by Syrian researchers in 2022.
Residents of the Tadamon area told the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi that Saqr on Thursday visited Tadamon accompanied by security forces from the new administration, a development that led to widespread anger, with protesters calling for Saqr to face accountability for this role in the massacre.
Accompanying Saqr were Colonel Abu Hassan, the head of general security in Damascus, and Abu Bakr, the head of general security in the southern area.
Also present were Yasser Suleiman and Ghadeer Al-Salem, two other former leaders of the regime’s National Defence militia, which is accused of multiple atrocities in the Syrian conflict.
They were reportedly in the area to look for other figures associated with the Assad regime, wanted by the new authorities.
Protesters held up pictures of their executed relatives and chanted slogans against what they described as the lack of accountability for crimes committed by the previous regime.
“How can someone involved in killing our people come here today like a hero or saviour? This is a visit which does not respect the people or the memory of those they lost.” Fayez Abu Eid, the head of the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
“We cannot forget how he executed our neighbours in front of our eyes. Just his presence here is a humiliation for the victims,” he added.
Since the ouster of the Assad regime in December 2024 after a rebel assault spearheaded by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group, Saqr has tried to reinvent himself by playing a prominent role in new “civil peace committees” and taking part in national dialogue initiatives, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.
He is accused of many atrocities in the Syrian conflict, reportedly playing a central role in the starvation sieges imposed by the Assad regime on areas of south Damascus held by the rebels during the Syrian conflict. He has been subjected to international sanctions as a result.
Abu Eid accused Saqr of overseeing the forced displacement of residents of the Qaboun, Barzeh and eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, as well as the starvation of mostly Palestinian residents of the Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus during the Syrian conflict.
Over 500,000 people were killed in the Syrian conflict, mostly at the hands of Assad regime forces, which began in 2011 when the regime brutally suppressed peaceful protests against its autocratic rule.
Syria’s new authorities have faced accusations of neglecting the rights of those Syrians harmed by the previous Assad regime, such as missing detainees and their families, while focusing excessively on gaining recognition from and establishing relations with foreign countries, particularly Western powers.
