Kidnapping in 2021 | Nearly 650 people kidnapped across Syria, 270 documented by names

Appeals to disclose the fate of people kidnapped by all conflicting powers and identified and unidentified groups operating in Syria are still met with inaction by the United Nations and human rights organizations concerned with Syria’s situation.

 

SOHR, as a human rights organization, has continued monitoring and documenting all kidnap cases throughout Syria, as the number of kidnapped Syrian people in 2021 exceeded 640.

 

Of the total number of those kidnapped in 2021, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented 271 people by names: 225 men, 22 women over the age of eighteen, and 24 children under the age of eighteen. SOHR was also able to verify the remaining 369 kidnappings, but the victims’ families preferred to keep their identities secret, fearing prosecution.

 

2021’s kidnap cases can be summarized regionally as follows:

 

 

Regime-held areas: 164 people were kidnapped:

 

• Al-Quneitra and Al-Suwaidaa: 76 people were kidnapped in the two provinces. They were as follows: five men were kidnapped by regime-backed militiamen, 50 men and three children kidnapped by armed militias and 18 people, including a woman, were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

 

• Damascus and Rif Dimashq: 49 people were kidnapped: Eight civilians kidnapped by regime forces, nine men by Iranian-backed militias and 32 people, including five children and six women, kidnapped by unknown individuals.

 

• Daraa: Eight people were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, despite the Russian-sponsored reconciliation deals in the past months, which aimed to settle the security status of former opposition fighters.

 

• Syrian coast line: Six people, including two children, were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

 

• Aleppo: A man was kidnapped by regime forces.

 

• Homs: 14 people, including two children and four women, were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

 

• Hama: A man was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

 

• Syrian desert: Nine people, including two children, were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

 

 

SDF-controlled areas

 

• This region witnessed the kidnapping of 37 people, which are as follows: 31 people, including two women and eight children, were kidnapped by SDF-backed members and six men were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

 

 

“De-escalation zone”

 

• Five people were kidnapped: a man was kidnapped by Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and four others were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

 

 

“Euphrates Shield” areas

 

• 22 people: two civilians were kidnapped by rebel factions and 20 civilians, including a woman and two children, were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

 

 

“Olive Branch” areas

 

• 43 people were kidnapped: 24 civilians, including six women, were kidnapped by rebel factions and 19 civilians, including two women, were kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

 

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), appeal to the international community and human rights organizations operating in Syria to intervene immediately and intensify their efforts to put an end to the violations committed against Syrians. We also urgently call for the release of kidnapped civilians held by all powers in Syria, and we and their families have the right to know their fate and whereabouts immediately.