A pair of lawmakers are calling for the Biden administration to sanction a group of Syrians believed to be responsible for a near decade-old massacre of civilians in the Damascus suburb of Tadamon. 

“Even as we struggle to cope with our own national tragedies, as co-chairs of the Friends of a Free, Stable, and Democratic Syria Caucus here in Congress, we write to call your attention to another horrific massacre that occurred thousands of miles away,” read the letter from Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) sent to President Joe Biden on Wednesday. 

Leaked video obtained by researchers at the University of Amsterdam's Holocaust and Genocide Center and recently published by The Guardian newspaper offers the latest evidence of sweeping war crimes carried out by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s 11-year-long civil war. 

The newly released footage from Tadamon documents the April 2013 killing of at least 41 unarmed civilians who were rounded up by officers in the notorious Branch 227 of the military intelligence service. The video shows blindfolded and handcuffed detainees marched toward an execution pit and shot dead by a nearby Syrian officer. The bodies in the mass grave were then set on fire.