The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Wednesday stated that they had verified a total of 792 cases of arrest, as well as 121 abductions across Syria from early January to late June 2022, adding that they estimate the number of kidnappings to be much higher than what they have been able to document.
Areas under the control of Turkish-backed forces arrested a total of 409 people during the first half of 2022, mainly accused of having affiliations with the Kurdish forces or cells of the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the SOHR.
Areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime reported 218 arrests, while areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested 150 people, in addition to 15 arrests in areas controlled by Syrian rebel factions.
Syrians rose up against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrian people and has left millions more in need of humanitarian assistance.
The US State Department in March said at least 2,210 cases of arrest were documented in Syria since 2011, accusing Assad’s regime of being responsible for at least 88 percent of the arrests.
A report from the UN in 2021 addressed human rights violations against prisoners in Syria, stating that no warring parties in the country have respected the rights of the detainees.
“The whereabouts of tens of thousands of those arrested throughout the conflict are still unknown,” according to the report.
