Syrian Regime Forces Arrest Dozens of Civilians Involved in the August Anti-Regime Protests, Others Being Pursued

ARK News… The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed in a report released, on Saturday, that it documented at least 223 cases of arbitrary arrest/detention in August 2023, including 14 children and 17 women. The group added that Syrian regime forces arrested dozens of civilians involved in the August anti-regime protests, with many others still being pursued.

The report documents at least 223 arbitrary arrests/detentions in August 2023, including of 14 children and 17 women (adult female), with 183 of these cases subsequently categorized as enforced disappearances, at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria. Of the 223 cases, 121 were carried out at the hands of Syrian regime forces, and included one child and 13 women, while the SDF arrested 42 individuals, including 11 children and one woman. The report also reveals that HTS arrested 32 individuals, including of one child and one woman, while all armed opposition factions/SNA arrested 28 individuals, including of one child and two women.

The report also shows the distribution of cases of arbitrary arrests/detentions for August across Syria. Analysis of the data for this period shows that Aleppo governorate saw the highest number of cases of arbitrary arrests/detentions documented this month, followed by the governorates of Idlib, then, in descending order, Rural Damascus, Damascus, Lattakia, Homs and Deir Ez-Zour and Raqqa, and finally Hama.

The report emphasizes that the issue of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons is one of the most crucial human rights issues in Syria, which there has been no progress in resolving despite its inclusion in several UN Security Council resolutions, as well as in UN General Assembly resolutions, in Kofi Annan’s plan, and finally in the statement of cessation of hostilities issued in February 2016, and in Security Council resolution 2254 of December 2015.

The report additionally notes that the other, non-regime parties (Syrian Democratic Forces, Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, and all Armed Opposition factions/Syrian National Army) are also all obliged to implement the provisions of international human rights law, and that they have also committed widespread violations through arrests and enforced disappearances.

In the report, SNHR again calls on the UN Security Council to follow through with the implementation of Resolution 2042, Resolution 2043, and Resolution 2139.

The report stresses that the UN and the guarantor parties at Astana should form an impartial special committee to monitor cases of arbitrary arrest and to reveal the fate of the 102,000 missing persons in Syria, 85 percent of whom are detained by the Syrian regime. The report adds that pressure should be applied on all parties to immediately reveal their detention records in accordance with a timetable, and to immediately make detainees’ whereabouts public, and allow humanitarian organizations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to have direct access to them.

Lastly, the report emphasizes that children and women should immediately be released from captivity, and that the families and friends of detainees or wanted individuals should not be detained as prisoners of war, concluding by providing a number of additional recommendations.

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