Syria says Amjad Youssef killed six children of Dr. Rania Al-Abbasi

The Syrian Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that Amjad Youssef — the intelligence officer implicated in the Tadamon neighborhood massacre — was also involved in the killing of six children belonging to Dr. Rania Al-Abbasi, a former Arab and international chess champion who disappeared alongside her family in 2013.

Evidence from detainee interrogations

In a statement issued from Damascus, the ministry said interrogations of several detainees had yielded information and evidence indicating that the children were killed by groups affiliated with the former Assad regime. "The National Commission for Missing Persons also shared videos and information related to the case with the Interior Ministry, which contributed to supporting the investigation and strengthening the available evidence," it added.

Initial investigations revealed Youssef's involvement in the crime, the ministry noted, while authorities continue gathering evidence and pursuing remaining perpetrators to prepare legal proceedings against them.

The Al-Abbasi family disappearance

Al-Abbasi, a dentist born in 1970, was forcibly disappeared by military intelligence in 2013 along with her husband Abdul Rahman Yassin and their six children. Human rights reports indicate the family was arrested for supporting displaced Syrians who had fled from Homs to the capital. All contact with the family was severed following their detention.

Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian National Commission for Missing Persons said it had documented the deaths of Al-Abbasi's children in the prisons of the ousted regime, stating it had reached "reliable and corroborating findings that allow us to conclude with a high degree of certainty that the children of Dr. Rania al-Abbasi are dead."

Accountability for 2013 Tadamon massacre

Youssef was arrested in April, prompting widespread celebration among Syrians who had long demanded his prosecution. The Tadamon case drew international attention after footage leaked to The Guardian in 2022 showed Youssef, then an officer in Military Intelligence Branch 227, executing at least 41 blindfolded and bound detainees near the Othman Mosque on April 16, 2013 — their bodies subsequently dumped in a pit and burned.

The current Syrian administration, formed after Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in December 2024, has repeatedly announced arrests of individuals accused of wartime abuses. President Ahmad al-Sharaa has led the transitional administration since its formation in January 2025.