Disappearances in HTS-held areas | Children and women among nearly 90 people go missing in two months
Security services in Idlib city and countryside document disappearances of the region’s residents and displaced people almost daily, while these appearances are attributed to several factors.
Syrian Observatory activists have documented the disappearance of nearly 86 people, including 31 children and 14 women, throughout Idlib province between April 1 and May 25. Nearly 55 of these people have been found, while the fate of the others, 31 people, mostly displaced people, remained unknown.
The cases of disappear could be distributed as follows:
In April 2021, 46 people, including 23 children and three women, went missing.
From May 1, 2021, to May 25, 44 people, including eight children and 11 women, went missing.
Local sources have told SOHR that the main reason behind these almost-daily appearances is the fact that some of the displaced people are not familiar to the region. Other reasons could also lead to disappearances like mental diseases, domestic violence, family disagreements. Also, the financial hardship plays a major role in some disappearances, specially when householders become unable to secure the essential needs of his family.
On the other hand, there are many incidents of enforced disappearances, like kidnappings by unknown individuals with the aim of collecting ransoms, while some girls are being kidnapped under sexual blackmail.
Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and its security services control the whole province of Idlib and several surrounding villages. Accordingly, they are responsible for all incidents in these areas. Observatory sources say that there are two kinds of disappearances, as some cases are attributed to personal disputes, mental disorder or financial malaise, while other incidents, enforced disappearances, take place in areas where kidnapping and blackmail gangs are prevalent, which poses a threat to civilians. HTS-backed military cervices and police are the bodies responsible for prosecution of these gangs. Despite the security services’ tight procedures and deterrent punishment measures, such gangs are varying and prevalent in the region.
Talking to SOHR about this phenomenon, a man from Darkoush city in the western countryside of Idlib, the father of a 15-year old girl who disappeared previously for two days, said “on that day, my daughter did not returned home on time, after the school day in an educational institute. I went out to search for her and asked all of our relatives, but in vain. I later headed to the police which started the search, while I circulated her name and picture on facebook pages. The police could not find her on that day. On the following day, we found her after kidnappers kidnapped her and headed to the Syria-Turkey border. I have become more careful about my children and do never let them leave the house alone.”
Idlib city and surrounding villages are overpopulated due to the mass exodus in the past years, as hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced to the province, fleeing from military operations in areas in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib countryside. This overpopulation leads to the prevalence of disappearances and helps kidnapping gangs to be rampant.