A FEARED member of Syria’s infamous Tiger Forces who fed Assad’s prisoners to his pet lion has been publicly executed by local rebels, reports claim.
Twisted Talal Dakkak was killed by local militia in Hama, with videos on X claiming to show preparations that were made for his killing.
Former taxi driver Dakkak was feared across Syria – not only for his own sadistic ways but also for his ownership of a bloodthirsty lion.
He stole the beast from a zoo in 2005 before training it to become his feared sidekick.
According to a 2019 report by the Syrian Observer, a member of the Tiger Forces openly bragged to his comrades about feeding the corpses of those he deemed “terrorists” to his devoted animal companion.
A widely shared video showcased his lion brutally attacking a horse, a grim spectacle orchestrated by Dakkak to demonstrate the pet’s gruesome abilities.
Dakkak is also reportedly responsible for numerous other horrific criminal acts – including kidnapping, killing and organ trade.
Similar to the disgraced dictator Bashar al-Assad’s sibling Maher, Dakkak was implicated in the illicit trade of drugs, as well as the smuggling of fuel, food, and unlicensed cars.
The deadly enforcer was one of Syria’s most infamous army leaders and powerful businessmen in Hama.
At one point he led a 1,500-strong militia of the Air Force Intelligence.
It is believed that Dakkak was captured by militant rebels as they freed Syria from Assad’s oppressive regime.
The rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, vowed on Monday that they would “not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people”.
And it looks as if the rebels stayed true to their word as reports claim Dakkak was killed in front of a celebrating crowd in Hama.
His death has not yet been officially verified.
Dakkak is thought to be one of numerous senior army members to have been captured by the rebels after they took over the capital city of Damascus a few days ago, overthrowing Assad.
At the core of the system of rule that Assad inherited from his father Hafez was a brutal complex of prisons and detention centres.
One of the biggest rebel operations after overthrowing Assad saw them liberate the harrowing Sednaya Military Prison in the neighbouring city – nicknamed the Human Slaughterhouse.
Sednaya Prison had become synonymous with Assad’s reign of tyranny over the past couple of decades.
Chilling videos from inside the liberated jail show rebels looking around a room which appears to be where executions may have taken place.
Footage from the Syrian capital shows dozens of women and young men reportedly walking free for the first time in years after rebels stormed the national prisons on the weekend.
A clip even shows a toddler leaving a cell as rebels cheered on.
Survivors of the torturous prison provided chilling testimonies on their near-death experiences, claiming it was “carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve and ultimately kill those trapped inside”.
Meanwhile Israel pounded Syrian airbases with strikes on Monday night following the fall of Assad’s brutal regime.
The ammunition dump was an Israeli hit, sources told Reuters.
The blitz raged for at least 30 minutes as the sound of shells and arms blowing up rang across the area.
This military base was reportedly also thought to have stored missiles for Assad’s ally Iran, per Sky News.
Israel conducted several airstrikes throughout Syria on Monday, destroying dozens of abandoned helicopters and planes.
Huge fires were also spotted at another ammunition dump neighbouring the Qamishli airbase.
It was initially unclear who could have been behind these explosions, due to the fraught politics of this region.
The Qamishli airbase was situated in a Kurdish controlled part of Syria, neighbouring the border with Turkey.
What is Sednaya Prison?
By Annabel Bate, Foreign News Reporter
SEDNAYA Prison – otherwise known as the Human Slaughterhouse – was a military prison near Damascus, Syria.
Operated by the government of Syrian Arab Republic, the hellhole prison was used to hold thousands of inmates that were civilian detainees, anti-government rebels and political prisoners.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimated in January 2021 that an overwhelming 30,000 detainees were horrifically executed under the Assad regime in Sednaya.
Guards would use torture as a killing technique, as well as have mass executions.
Some held at the horrific prison of Sednaya say they were raped, and in some cases, forced to rape other inmates.
A regular form of punishment was some kind of torture and sever beatings from guards, it’s claimed, which led to individuals suffering life-changing damage like disabilities or death.
Floors of cells were coated in blood and pus from tortured prisoners, according to a 2017 Amnesty report, with the bodies of dead prisoners collected like rubbish at 9am each morning by guards.
Detainees were also forced to follow horrific rules as they were forced as they were deprived the basic necessities of food, water and medicine.
When food would be delivered it would often be cruelly scattered across cell floors by guards with a mixture of blood and dirt.
Other disturbing accounts say the mass hangings occurred once or twice a week on a Monday and Wednesday – chillingly in the middle of the night.
The unbelievable practices, which human rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, were authorised at the highest level of the Syrian government under Assad.
