The Guardian published an investigation on Thursday with footage showing a massacre taking place in Tadamon, near Syria’s capital Damascus, in April 2013.

The piece was called “Massacre in Tadamon: how two academics hunted down a Syrian war criminal,” and written by Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov.

Tadamon is a suburb south of Damascus.

It was there that groups of civilians were rounded up, sent towards an execution pit, and shot dead.

The British newspaper reported that the mass grave contained at least 41 bodies following the massacre.

The bodies were then doused with fuel and set alight.

In the video footage, soldiers could be heard laughing.

The massacre took place just a few miles from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.

Chulov said the footage is “one of the most indictable videos from the whole Syrian conflict" and “gives us a glimpse into a previously untold part of the 10-year war.”

The massacre was carried out by Branch 227 of Syria’s military intelligence, the Guardian reported.

The footage was recorded by a new recruit to a loyalist militia, who leaked it first to an opposition activist in France and then to two researchers: Annsar Shahhoud and Prof. Ugur Umit Ungor of the University of Amsterdam’s Holocaust and Genocide Center.

Annsar, a critic of the Assad regime, created an alias on Facebook in order to reach out to regime officials.

In March 2021, she connected with a man called Amgd Youssuf, who is alleged to be one of the gunmen in the video.

The two researchers passed on their evidence, comprised of videos, notes, and thousands of hours of interviews, to prosecutors in the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

The source is safe outside Syria./aa

A UN study released this week shows humans are killing the planet.

The UN report says up to 40% of the Earth’s land is degraded, threatening roughly half of the global Gross Domestic Product ($44 trillion).

“At no other point in modern history has humanity faced such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks and hazards, interacting in a hyper-connected and rapidly changing world,” the study warns. “We cannot afford to underestimate the scale and impact of these existential threats.”

Deforestation, mining, and industrial pollution are heavily contributing to the degradation of the world’s land, which the UN says has been mismanaged and misused for decades, threatening the health and continued survival of many species.

Agriculture takes up nearly half of the world’s land area, which has seen forests decimated to create livestock ranges and crop fields. Experts say that is not sustainable in the long run.

“We need to urgently rethink our global food systems, which are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 70% of freshwater use, and the single greatest cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

A growing population worldwide means a higher demand for food, but if these alarming trends continue, the UNCCD says another 11% of the world's land surface – about the size of South America – could be degraded by 2050.

“As a finite resource and our most valuable natural asset, we cannot afford to continue taking land for granted,” emphasized Thiaw.

The UNCCD says the solution to this global crisis will take a concerted effort from every country to implement projects such as restoring soil health, protecting wildlife, and improving water availability through storing rainwater or using drip irrigation.

Those efforts could yield up to $140 trillion annually in economic returns, or 50% more than the current GDP.

“Investing in large-scale land restoration is a powerful, cost-effective tool to combat desertification, soil erosion, and loss of agricultural production,” said Thiaw.

“Now is the time to harness political will, innovation, and collective action to restore our land and soil for short-term recovery and long-term regeneration to ensure a more stable and resilient future,” he added.

“Hope remains as the decade of restoration has begun.”/aa

Police in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh arrested seven people Thursday for allegedly throwing pieces of pork, letters abusing Muslims and torn pages of an Islamic text at three mosques and a shrine in an attempt to instigate communal violence.

They said in a statement that the incidents took place in the town of Ayodhya and members of a right-wing outfit called Hindu Yodha Sangathan were involved.

Four First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered in the incidents, which took place at the Taatshah Jama Masjid, Ghosiyana mosque, Kashmiri Mohalla mosque and a shrine of Gulab Shah Baba.

“It was an attempt to create communal violence and incite riots in Ayodhya town," the statement said.

The mastermind of the conspiracy has been identified as Mahesh Mishra.

An police investigation has revealed that Mishra and his close associates were angry over the communal violence that took place in New Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area on April 16 and they wanted to take revenge.

Senior Superintendent of Police Shailesh Pandey said 11 people were involved in the latest mosque incidents and four of them are absconding.

The police statement also said they had purchased skull caps, two copies of the Quran, pork and writing materials in order to instigate communal violence.

"The honorable court has directed maintaining the status quo on the site,” he said.

Local television channels also showed that a structure attached to a mosque was razed in the area.

On April 16, several people, including police officers, were injured when clashes erupted in Jahangirpuri during a Hindu religious procession. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that Muslims were involved in pelting stones at the procession.

At least 20 people were arrested following the violence.

Responding to the calls of BJP leaders in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, authorities began a “selective” demolition drive in the locality. Bulldozers demolished a string of shops on the roadside in the predominately Muslim Jahangirpuri locality.

As the drive was proceeding in the presence of a large squad of police and paramilitary personnel, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a stay on the demolitions.

India has been witnessing a systematic campaign against Muslims in the last few months, with Hindu mobs organizing processions in Muslim localities and brandishing swords and threatening to kill community members.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has remained silent over the issue. A group of 108 former Indian bureaucrats this week wrote to Modi to express concern over the “escalation of violence against minority communities, particularly Muslims across several BJP-ruled states” which poses a threat to the constitutional edifice as the state governments appear to be fully complicit in the state of affairs./aa

The Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council on Thursday urged the government to probe attacks against Muslims in the northern city of Gondar, and immediately bring perpetrators to the court of law.

The call for an immediate investigation into the deadly attacks came in a news conference by Hajji Mufti Omer Idriss, president of the Ethiopian Islamic body, amid uproar by Muslims and Christians alike, taking it to social media calling for justice for the slain people.

“There are people who clandestinely instigate brothers to kill each other while openly preaching peace,” Idriss said.

He added: “No religion preaches killing and it is now incumbent on religious fathers to preach unity.”

Idriss called on both Muslims and Christians to join hands to expose the destructive deeds of criminals.

The deadly attack against Muslims in Gondar of the Amhara regional state took place two days ago and the incident sent shockwaves across the Horn of Africa nation.

According to reports coming from the city, scuffle for a right of way at a cemetery snowballed and turned ugly in which tens of Muslims were killed and a considerable amount of property damaged.

At least 40 Muslims were killed, a mosque was torched and several businesses run by Muslims were destroyed, an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

The government is yet to confirm the casualties in and the extent of property damage.

Ethiopia is a multi-religious nation of 110 million people, with Muslims estimated to constitute 35% of the population.

The country prides itself on granting safe haven for the companions of Prophet Muhammed during the 7th century and ever since religion in the Ethiopian society cuts across ethnic divides.

Over the past few decades, though, there have been a number of religiously motivated attacks across Ethiopia, threatening religious co-existence./aa