Arabic → English transcript

I am Amjad Yusuf, First Assistant. I used to work in the Intelligence Division,

In the Area Branch, Branch 227. I joined the military corps in 2004.

For a full year- long course, I graduated in 2005… 2006, sorry, 2006.

With the rank of sergeant… staff sergeant.

And I completed the staff sergeant ranks until

I was promoted To the rank of assistant.

And later my status fell while I was at the rank of assistant.

The video that spread on social media, the one where Amjad Yusuf appears,

that is me.

And in which it appeared that before…

that it was almost the beginning of the crisis, the start of the revolution.

What happened is that I and Najib with me,

this is Najib al- Halabi, he was with the National Defense.

And one of its members was a cameraman,

I do not remember what the cameraman’s name was. We had brought before,

I mean, Around forty people. On the basis that at that time they were all

terrorists or financiers…

They were providing financial support to terrorism. As for the soldiers,

no one other than me was present.

We drove them to the pit that Had been dug, it was dug by a backhoe.

And I opened fire on… as you saw in the video clip.

Once I’d wait for him to go down into the pit,

once I’d shoot him before he went down into the pit.

Once I’d have Najeeb be the one who shot, until we were done with them. And after we

finished shooting,

we had put tires on the ground underneath them.

We’d put tires back on top of them, and light a fire on top of them.

So that it would…

so that no smell would come out in the area. We lit a fire on top of them

and we covered up the pit. He covered it, I mean after a day, after two days,

I do not remember anymore. Was it by your own decision?

It was by my own decision, I, without…

I do not have a military rank that gave me… an order, or an officer, or a general.

If I had, I would tell you honestly the opposite,

I would shift the responsibility off myself.

By God, I did not choose the victims. It was not my choice,

it was not agreed that the number would be forty people.

That is how it happened, that is how

the circumstances formed,

and that is how this number came about. We did not choose them.

I would go out with him,“ Bring so- and- so,” for example, someone about whom there

was information. Or someone came

It said in a report, or some info came in about him,

that he was with the gunmen in some area and then left, for example.

And a doctor in hiding, so- and- so was supporting the gunmen wi…

Material or whatever, that is how the info came in. And based on that,

we would go get them.

May it be the same for every criminal…