The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

During January | 21 murders in regime areas left 22 people kil-led including six women

Since the beginning of 2023, regime-held areas have experienced an alarming escalation of crime 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.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) documented 18 murder crimes that left 19 civilians dead: five women and 14 men and young men.
The fatalities are distributed regionally as follows:
On January 1: Residents found the body of an 18 year-old young man killed in mysterious circumstances, and his body dumped in Sahl Madaya area in Al-Qalmon Al-Gharby in Rif Dimashq. However, the identity of the murderers were not been identified.
On January 2: Residents found the body of a woman killed in mysterious circumstances, with her body dumped in an Arabic well in the area between Shain town and Jab Al-Bostan village in Homs countryside, after she went missing nearly two months ago, while local authorities interfered to expose the details of the crime.
On January 3: A 23 years-old young man from Namra village in eastern Al-Suwaydaa countryside died affected by wounds sustained by a gunshot from an unidentified source, where he was taken to Al-Shahba hospital in Al-Suwaydaa countryside and died there.
On January 6: A young man was directly shot dead, due to disputes between him and another person in Al-Yadoda town in western Daraa countryside, escalating the situation to armed clashes and the house of the shooter was set on fire before he fled to an unknown destination, amid tension in the region.
On January 7: The headmaster of a school in Al-Qusour neighbourhood of Hama city died of injuries he sustained yesterday after being stabbed with a sharp tool by a student of the same school, a child under the age of 18. The school principal was stabbed with more than one stab wound to the abdomen and was taken to the hospital, then he died of his injuries.
On January 9: A young man was shot dead directly by a person during a fight with gunmen on a Toyota Hilux near Al-Bouarka bridge in Al-Suwaydaa city.
On January 12: A woman in her 60s was stabbed by a sharp object in her body by two girls inside her house in (Al-Qadam – Dahil) area in Damascus, after her money and jewelry were stolen. Meanwhile, local authorities arrested them.
On January 13: A man in his 30s was stabbed to death with a sharp object by his uncle inside his house in Al-Husseiniyah town in Rif Dimashq, due to disputes over a cellular phone, where local authorities arrested the uncle.
On January 14: A resident of Khirbet Sa’ad village, east of Shaqa district, was shot dead by gunmen in his home in the north-eastern countryside of Al-Suwaydaa. Gunmen broke into the civilian’s home early and opened fire on him with automatic rifles, severely injuring him, and he soon died after being treated at the hospital. The gunmen fled after the crime was committed to an unknown destination. It is worth noting that the dead person is a retired teacher.
On January 15: A civilian was found dead by unknown persons. The body was found dumped near one of the regime’s checkpoints at the four junctions on Besnada-Kersana road in Al-Da’atour district of Latakia, amid reports that he had been shackled and thrown with a bomb, killing him instantly.
On January 16: An unidentified young man and a woman were slaughtered by a sharp object inside a house in “Ain Fatira” neighbourhood in Qatna area in Rif Dimashq, without knowing the motivations of the crime and the identity of the perpetrators, where the victims’ bodies were taken to Teshrin Military Hospital.
On January 17: Residents found the body of a man, who was shot dead in the head, where his body was dumped inside an abandoned room within a farm between Maarads and Kawkab towns in Hama countryside.
On January 19: A young man was killed by a gunshot to the head, where he was executed after being tortured by unidentified people and his body was found with his hands tied in the northern neighbourhood in Talbisa city in northern Homs countryside, without knowing the identity and motivation of the perpetrators.
On January 19: A girl, a student at the university, dies of the injury she sustained yesterday after being stabbed several times by a sharp object in the chest by a young man near Al-Suwaid hospital in Al-Azhari roundabout in Latakia city.
On January 23: Residents found the body of a young man dumped in an abandoned well in Al-Masroub neighbourhood of Maaraba town in Rif Dimashq, amid heavy deployment of security forces and police in the neighbourhood and an attempt to recover the body.
On January 25: A person from Om Walad in eastern Daraa countryside was shot dead in the head by unidentified gunmen in the capital Damascus, for unknown reasons.
On January 25: The body of an unidentified elderly woman in her fifties was found dumped in the orchards of Al-Hanadi in Latakia countryside. The woman was killed by unknown persons for more than a week. The body was found with facial mutilation. The causes of the death remain unknown. Enquiries are ongoing into the circumstances of the incident.
On January 26: A young man was shot dead by a person in Karam Samady neighbourhood in Jirmana city in Rif Dimashq, due to person disputes over money between them.
On January 28: A four years-old was killed in Aleppo city by his step mother, in cooperation with two of her children. According to reliable SOHR sources, the child was brutally tortured before being killed, where his body showed bruises on his neck and head that led to his death.
On January 29: SOHR sources reported that a woman killed her 15-year-old boy in Al-Marrah village in western Qalamoun, as she was punishing him for smoking, sabotaging the house’s contents and bothering the village’s inhabitants. Local authorities have arrested the mother. According to SOHR sources, the woman was suffering from dreadful living conditions and she killed her son by hitting him with a sharp tool on his head several times, after having tied his hands and legs with a rope.
On January 31: A woman was strangled to death inside her house in Al-Qanya town in Al-Sanmin area in Daraa countryside, where her body was found tied with a rope. Meanwhile, the local authorities arrested the murderer. According to reliable SOHR sources, the brother of the victim’s husband, who lives in the same house, killed the wife of his brother to steal her jewelry taking advantage of the absence of his brother, and strangled her by a rope until she died.

The Syrian Observatory has documented 21 murders in regime-controlled areas since early 2023, where domestic violence and armed robbery were behind some of these murders, while motivations behind the others remained unknown. These murders left 22 civilians: Six women, 14 young and adult men and two children, dead. The fatalities are distributed regionally as follows:

• Rif Dimashq: Six murder crimes left a woman, five men and a child dead
• Latakia: Three murder crimes left a man and two women dead.
• Al-Suwaydaa: Three murder crimes left three men dead.
• Homs: Two murder crimes left a woman and a young man dead.
• Hama: Two murder crimes left two men dead.
• Daraa: Two murder crimes left a man and a woman dead.
• Damascus: Two murder crimes left a woman and a man dead.
• Aleppo: One murder crime left a child dead.