Murders surge in regime-held areas | 17 civilians, mostly women and children, killed in 14 murders in 15 days

Since early September, regime-held areas has seen alarming escalation of crimes rates, in light of the failure of regime security services of the Syrian regime to put an end to the chaos and rampant security chaos that prevail across Syrian provinces which are under the control of regime forces.

These crimes were committed with various motives and reasons, most notably “theft, revenge, or honour” and other reasons.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), based on its role as a human rights institution, has monitored the murders and casualties left behind by these crimes.

Since early September and till 16, SOHR activists have documented 14 murders that left 17 civilians dead, and they are as follows:

Six women.

Three children.

Eight men and young men.

The fatalities are distributed regionally as follows:

• Rif Dimashq: Three civilians: Two women and an Iraqi man.

• Tartous: Three civilians: A woman, a man, and a child.

• Deir Ezzor: Three civilians: A woman, a man, and a child.

• Al-Suwaydaa: Three men.

• Latakia: Two civilians: A woman and a child.

• Homs: Two civilians: A woman and a man.

• Daraa: A man.

Here are further details of these crimes that have been documented by SOHR:

• September 1: An elderly woman in her sixties was found murdered in a house in Kafr Batna district in Rif Dimashq.

• September 1: A child was killed in the explosion of a grenade thrown by an unidentified person in neighbourhood of Al-Jubaybat Al-Gharbiyah city in Latakia countryside.

• September 4: The residents found the body of a child hanging on the outskirts of Al-Salhiyah city in Al-Bokamal countryside, east of Deir Ezzor.

• September 4: A 65-year-old woman was found dead after being murdered with a sharp tool by unknown persons inside her house on “Fouad Cinema” street in Deir Ezzor city centre.

• September 5: A woman was shot dead by members of the 4th Division in Zakiyah city in western Rif Dimashq.

• September 7: The residents found the body of a civilian with gunshot wounds near Julen dam in Al-Suwaydaa.

• September 8: Two civilians were shot dead by bedouin tribesmen in a bush between the villages of Qom and Samid in Al-Suwaydaa countryside.

• September 8: a man, his wife, and his 17-year-old son were killed by the husband of his daughter in Wadi Al-Shater neighbourhood in Tartous.

• September 9: A man was stabbed to death with a knife in a fight in Al-Jizah town in eastern Daraa countryside.

• September 9: An Iraqi refugee was killed by a gang after they infiltrated his house to commit a robbery in Al-Sayyida Zainab area in southern Rif Dimashq.

• September 11: A girl was strangled by her father on for escaping with her lover in Jableh area in Latakia countryside.

• September 13: An elderly man in his fifties was shot dead by unidentified gunmen near Al-Zouhour café in Al-Qusour neighbourhood of Deir Ezzor.

• September 14: An elderly man in his fifties was found killed and buried in a pit in a farmland in Jobar neighbourhood in Homs.

• September 16: The body of a woman in her thirties was found with nine knife stabs, between Homs and Tartous provinces.

The Syrian Observatory has documented 108 murders in regime-controlled areas since early 2022, where domestic violence and armed robbery were behind some of these murders, while motivations behind the others remained unknown. These murders left 116 civilians: 21 children, 21 women and 74 men, dead. The fatalities are distributed regionally as follows:

• Al-Suwaydaa: 30 civilians: three children, including an infant, three women and 24 men.

• Rif Dimashq: 21 civilians: six children, five women and ten men, including an Iraqi man.

• Homs: 13 civilians: Two little girls, three women and eight men.

• Hama: Ten civilians: an infant, three women and six men.

• Daraa: Ten civilians: four children and six men.

• Aleppo: Seven civilians: an infant and six men.

• Damascus: Four civilians: a woman and three men.

• Tartus: Seven civilians: Three women, three men and a child.

• Deir Ezzor: Seven people: Five men, a child and a woman.

• Al-Raqqah: Two men.

• Latakia: Four civilians: two women, a child and a man.

• Al-Quneitra: A child.