Escalating Security Violations in Syria: Killings, Abductions, and Arrests Amid Lack of Accountability
Several regions across Syria are witnessing a noticeable escalation in killings, abductions, and human rights violations, according to circulating field reports, amid the absence of official clarification regarding most of these incidents.
In Sweida province, local sources reported that factions affiliated with the Ministry of Defense in the western countryside returned the body of the young man Fidaa Ghassan Ghabra, after abducting him along with Mahdi Riyad Gharz al-Din and William Ghabra from their agricultural land in the town of Dhibin. The body was delivered to the National Hospital in Shahba, with no confirmed information yet regarding the cause of death.
In Deir ez-Zor, the body of the child Mahmoud Rashid al-Duaiji was found inside a building near the courthouse, days after he was reported missing from the Sheikh Yassin neighborhood.
In Homs, the young man Fater Rateb Hamdan died on April 1, 2026, at Al-Kindi Hospital, reportedly due to injuries resulting from torture during his detention in a General Security prison in Hama. He had been released days earlier in critical condition after more than a year in detention.
In the western countryside of Hama, both Mohammad Hafez al-Ali and Youssef Mohammad al-Ali were killed while working on their land north of al-Bayad village, in an incident attributed by local sources to General Security forces.
Meanwhile, in the town of Sarrin in the countryside of Kobani (Ain al-Arab), two Kurdish civilians, Mohammad Mahmoud and Azad Mahmoud, were abducted and taken to an unknown destination, in what sources described as part of a broader campaign targeting Kurdish residents.
In Homs city, the young man Aref Amin Zalkh was found shot dead inside his car in the Karam Shamsham neighborhood. In a separate incident, Basel Mahmoud al-Mohammad died from his wounds after his home was attacked with a hand grenade and gunfire in the Hama countryside.
The al-Muhajireen neighborhood in Homs also witnessed an armed attack targeting a family, resulting in the death of Marwa al-Raai and the injury of her husband Salim Asaad and their four-year-old daughter Lailas, who sustained serious injuries.
In a related development, General Security forces carried out raids in the village of al-Khandaq in the al-Ghab Plain, arresting several young men, with reports of gunfire and looting of private property during the operation.
In another case, Fouad Suleiman Khaddour died in detention in Homs after nearly a year of arrest without formal charges, while several members of his family remain detained, according to local sources.
Additionally, taxi driver Samer al-Jamal was shot dead by armed men in the al-Bayada neighborhood of Homs, where his body was found with a gunshot wound to the head.
In a separate assault, the young man Nizar Zidan was severely beaten in the area of al-Mukhram al-Tahtani following a dispute over agricultural land, leaving him in critical condition.
These incidents come amid a deteriorating security situation in multiple parts of Syria, alongside growing calls for independent investigations to uncover the circumstances of these violations and hold those responsible accountable.
