August 2024 | SOHR documents 280 arrests and kidnappings across Syria
SOHR calls for immediate release of detainees and disclosing the fate of kidnapped people
While more voices call for revealing the fate of the detainees and kidnapped people across Syria, arbitrary arrests and kidnaps continue amid “timid efforts” by international bodies, like the United Nations and human rights organisations concerned with the Syrian issue.
As a human rights organisation, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitored and tracked kidnappings and arrests across Syria in the past month. In August 2024, SOHR documented the kidnapping of 34 people, including six children and five women, and the arbitrary arrest of 242 others, including eight children and eight women.
Arrests
–Areas under the control of Ankara-backed factions
92 people, including eight children and seven women, were arrested on different charges, the most prominent of which were “communication with the Kurdish forces, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Autonomous Administration and ISIS cells.” Here is a breakdown of these arrests:
- “Olive Branch” area: 80 people, including eight children and five women.
- “Euphrates Shield” area: Five persons, including two women.
- “Peace Spring” area: Seven persons.
–Areas under the Syrian regime control
97 people, including a woman, were arrested on different charges, the most prominent of which are “evading the mandatory and reserve conscription in the regime army, communicating with foreign bodies and “cybercrimes.” They are distributed regionally as follows:
- Daraa: 28 people, including a woman.
- Rif Dimashq: 17 people.
- Homs: Ten people.
- Deir Ezzor: 22 people.
- Hama: Five persons.
- Aleppo: 11 people.
- Al-Suwaidaa: Four persons.
Meanwhile, SOHR documented the death of six civilians under torture in the regime prisons and detention centres in August 2024.
–Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration
42 people were arrested on different charges.
–Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions
11 people.
Kidnaps
–Areas under control of Ankara-backed factions: One person in “Peace Spring” area.
–Areas under regime control: 28 people, including two children and five women; they are distributed as follows:
- Daraa: 13 people, including a child and five women.
- Homs: 12 people.
- Al-Suwaidaa: Two persons.
- Tartus: A little girl.
–Areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration: Five persons, including four children.
–Areas under the control of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and opposition factions: No kidnaps were documented in August 2024.
SOHR has verified the cases of arrests and kidnaps mentioned in this report and documented most of the names. SOHR also confidently estimates that the total number of kidnapped people is much higher. However, some victims’ families preferred to keep the identities of their sons secret, fearing persecution and punishment by the bodies that had arrested and kidnapped them.
We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), warn against the repercussions of violating and non-complying with international accords signed by Syria, as well as the ongoing indifference by the warring powers in Syria to the issue of detainees and forcibly disappeared. We also appeal to the international community to seriously intensify its efforts to disclose the fate of the detainees and forcibly disappeared people, and identify and hold the perpetrators accountable
SOHR attaches the highest importance to this issue of detainees and always strives to highlight their and their families’ plight and sufferings. SOHR also warns against using “terrorism” as an excuse to arrest politicians and human rights activists, using laws of counter-terrorism to justify arbitrary arrests.
We also call for the inspection of prisons in the entire Syrian geography, especially in regime-held areas, so that the real issue and conditions of detainees are unveiled. Furthermore, the fate of the missing and detainees who have been killed must be disclosed.