Country: Syria

In the context of the protracted armed conflict, civilians have suffered from gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by both government forces and non-state armed groups. Hundreds of thousands of victims have lost their lives in the conflict, and more than half of the population has been displaced.

Government forces have subjected the civilian population to indiscriminate and deliberate attacks, including through the use of illegal weapons, amounting to war crimes. Extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention and torture have become pervasive. Moreover, the practice of enforced disappearance has reached unprecedented levels and constitutes a crime against humanity, as it is used in a widespread and systematic manner.

Non-state armed groups have also been involved in committing gross acts of violence against civilians, as well as resorted to kidnappings and torture. Moreover, international actors involved in the conflict, in particular Russia and the United States, have failed to take any precautionary measures to protect the civilian population and civilian objects, leading to thousands of deaths in airstrikes.

Legislative Decree No. 15/2016, Amnesty Law

Syrian defected officer disappeared in Lebanon and Syria since November 2014

Mohammad Nassif is a Syrian defected officer with a rank of Captain. He was working at the Faculty of Electronic warfare in Set Zaynab, Syria. On October 29, 2014, he entered Lebanon legally. On November 25, 2014, Nassif was travelling by bus through the Beqaa when he was stopped at a mobile checkpoint by members […]

Jordanian citizen Rafat Abu Nabhan freed 18 months after his arrest in March 2019 in Syria

After the TV channel Abu Nabhan worked for was shut down in February 2019 due to a lack of funding, Abu Nabhan’s wife – a Syrian national – moved to Damascus, where she currently resides with their children. On March 7, 2019, Abu Nabhan was travelling from Lebanon to Syria by taxi to join his […]

Two brothers disappeared in the aftermath of the 2012 Karam El Zeitoun massacre in Homs

On March 11, 2012, a group of Shabiha “militias” committed a massacre in the Karam El Zeitoun neighborhood, where Imad and Alaa Al Ammar were living with their family. On the day of the massacre, all family members, except for Imad and his father, were outside of Homs. According to witnesses, Imad Al Ammar was […]

Syrian Army Colonel disappeared since July 2012

At the end of April 2012, Al Allawi was working in the warehouses of the Air Defense Administration located in Marj Al Sultan, in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria. After the warehouses were targeted by the Free Syrian Army, officers investigated Al Allawi for “not defending the warehouses.” He was then taken to a detention […]

Disappearance of Mohammad Al Ahmad Al Kamesh since arrest by Syrian Military Security in 2014

On January 24, 2014 at around 12 p.m., Al Ahmad Al Kamesh was driving his car from the Hama fire station where he was working, when he was arrested by members of the Military Security at a checkpoint located near the fire station and brought to an unknown place of detention. One week after the […]

Syrian refugee forcibly disappeared after being expelled from Lebanon now freed

Al Zuhuri and his parents fled from Syria in 2013 after his father was wanted by the Syrian authorities for participating in peaceful protests in 2011.They registered with the UNHCR shortly after finding refuge in Lebanon. They decided to settle in Zahlé in the Bekaa governorate. In July 2016, Al Zuhuri was arrested by the […]

Joint statement on the fate of the Missing, Detained and Forcibly Disappeared and guarantee the freedom and safety of human rights defenders in Syria

Six years ago, the joint office of the VDC, LDSPS and Rising for Freedom in Douma in Eastern Ghouta (north of Damascus) was raided by armed men who abducted four human rights defenders, Razan ZAITOUNEH, Wael HAMADA, Samira ALKHALIL and Nazim HAMMADI. The parties controlling the region have changed and tens of thousands of people […]

Houssam Mahfouz disappeared since 2013 by Syrian authorities

On May 23, 2013 Mahfouz’s home was raided by the police and members of the Syrian Political Security Branch who searched the house and beat Mahfouz in front of his children, which resulted in a serious head wound. Mahfouz was subsequently arrested and disappeared. Approximately one and a half months later, Syrian authorities seized Mahfouz’s […]

Mohammad Maqdah abducted by Syrian forces while trying to find refuge in Lebanon

Three months before Maqdah’s disappearance, he and his family fled from the city of Adra—located in the Eastern Ghouta region under siege by government forces—and found refuge in the Damascus neighbourhood of Al Zahera. Due to well-founded fear of persecution, they decided to then seek refugee status in Lebanon. On March 31, 2014, Maqdah and […]