The photo was posted by al-Shammari on his Facebook account on Saturday evening, 30 August, a day after he appeared in the official media at the Damascus International Fair.

The photo was posted by Al-Shammari on his Facebook account on Saturday evening, 30 August, a day after his appearance in the official media at the Damascus International Fair.

Al-Shammari had appeared in a video posted on his personal page during the kidnapping of a family consisting of two women and their children in the northern countryside of Sweida last July. The family was released a week after the kidnapping as part of an 'exchange', as stated in an earlier interview with Suwayda 24.

The crime occurred in the village of Radhima al-Lawa, north of As-Suwayda governorate, during an attack launched by militias loyal to the interim government under the 'Tribal Fazza' banner. Three family members were killed: the head of the family, his son and his wife. The mother, her daughter and her young grandchildren survived.

The family had taken refuge on the roof of their house in the village when they were attacked with machine guns and grenades by militiamen of which Al-Shammari was a commander. A harrowing photo of a little girl looking at the bodies of her parents and walking in blood before being kidnapped along with her surviving family members went viral.

Qusay al-Shammari also appeared in other videos on the Damascus-Suwayda road, announcing his participation in the siege of the governorate and the blocking of the entry of food supplies. Villages along the same road, from al-Sura al-Kabira to Umm al-Zaytoun, have been subject to genocidal massacres, including the killing and abduction of residents, and the looting and burning of houses, places of worship and churches.

This is not the first time the Minister of Culture has appeared alongside war criminals. A photo of him had already circulated in the office of one of the leaders of the Iranian-backed militia, 'Al-Marsoumi', who had also participated in the attacks in Sweida province, together with the forces of the interim government.

Source: https://x.com/suwayda24/status/1961920383126233287?s=46

A photo has emerged of the interim government's Minister of Culture, Mohammed Yassin al-Saleh, together with Qusay al-Shammari, a member of the pro-government militia who participated with interim government forces in sectarian attacks in Sweida province in mid-July.