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| Syrian commission says over 300,000 may have gone missing under Assad family rule |
| 2025-08-19 |
| [IsraelTimes] The head of Syria’s commission for missing persons says the number of people who went missing during decades of Assad family rule and the civil war may have exceeded 300,000. Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, head of the commission created in May, says the body’s mandate ranged from 1970, the year Hafez al-Assad took power, to the present day and had no timeframe for completing its work. “Our estimates of the number of missing range between 120,000 and 300,000 people, and it could be more,” he tells state news agency SANA. Tens of thousands of people were detained or disappeared during the Syrian civil war alone, which erupted in 2011 after a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests by former president Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December 2024. During the war, all sides were accused of atrocities, including the Islamic State jihadist group, which seized large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq, enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law and committing widespread abuses, including executions. Bashar al-Assad ruled with an iron fist, like his predecessor, his father Hafez, who took power in a bloodless military coup. The family’s rule was among the most brutal in the region, and its prison system, including feared sites such as Saydnaya, was notorious for disappearing people without a trace. “We have a map that includes more than 63 documented mass graves in Syria,” he says, without providing details on where they were located, who dug them or who was thought to be buried there. He says work was underway to establish a data bank for missing persons. Syria’s new authorities have pledged justice for victims of atrocities committed under Assad’s rule. Related: Assad 08/18/2025 Decades of distrust cloud complex and strained ties between Syria and Lebanon Assad 08/17/2025 SDF says freed four fighters from ISIS captivity in east Syria Assad 08/17/2025 IDF confirms strike on Yemeni power plant ‘used by the Houthi terror regime’ |
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