United Nations: Nearly 100 Cases of Abduction or Disappearance Reported in Syria Since Start of Year
Welat TV – Erbil
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Friday that nearly 100 people have been reported abducted or missing in Syria since the beginning of this year, amid continuing reports of new cases of enforced disappearance.
In a press briefing in Geneva, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office stated: “Eleven months after the fall of the previous government in Syria, we continue to receive deeply troubling reports of dozens of abductions and enforced disappearances.”
The office confirmed that at least 97 cases of kidnapping or disappearance have been documented since January, though it acknowledged that determining the exact number remains difficult due to volatile security conditions across the country.
Missing Persons Under the Assad Regime
The spokesperson added that the current figure is part of a broader context involving more than 100,000 people who went missing during the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad. The commission noted that while some families have reunited with their loved ones following Assad’s fall, many still have no information about the fate of their relatives.
The OHCHR emphasized that renewed violence in the coastal areas and in Suwayda city has further complicated efforts to locate the missing and trace their fates, as some families remain afraid to come forward or speak publicly.
Syrian Interior Ministry: Most Cases Unconfirmed
For its part, the Syrian Ministry of Interior stated that the findings of its investigation committee into reports of abductions of women and girls in the Syrian coast revealed only one confirmed case, while 41 cases were proven false.
Interior Ministry spokesman Noraddin al-Baba, speaking at a press conference earlier this month, said that the committee’s work covered the period from January to September 10, gathering and verifying reports and social media posts related to alleged abductions in the Latakia, Tartous, Homs, and Hama governorates.
Investigation Findings
According to al-Baba, the ministry’s review of official records, interviews with alleged victims and families, and field visits to reported sites found that 41 complaints were not actual abductions, distributed as follows:
• 12 cases of voluntary escape with a romantic partner
• 9 cases of temporary absence at relatives’ or friends’ homes
• 6 cases of fleeing domestic violence
• 6 cases of false claims on social media
• 4 cases involving prostitution or extortion
• 4 confirmed criminal cases, with the perpetrators already detained
The only confirmed abduction ended with the safe return of the girl to her family, while the search for the perpetrators continues.
Al-Baba called on citizens, civil society, and human rights organizations to report any suspicions directly to the ministry and to avoid spreading unverified information or rumors.
Documented Abductions in Coastal Syria
In recent months, media outlets and human rights groups have circulated multiple reports about the abduction of women and girls in Syria’s coastal provinces. In June, Reuters published a report documenting 33 cases of abduction targeting women aged 16 to 39, mostly from the Alawite community, across the governorates of Tartous, Latakia, and Hama.
According to the report, kidnappers demanded ransom payments, threatening to kill the victims if their families failed to comply — a trend that has deepened fear and tension within Alawite-majority communities in the coastal region.