Missing persons in Syria near 100,000: Watchdog

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - At least 99,479 people in Syria went missing from March 2011 to August 2020, a human rights watchdog said Sunday.

In a report released on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said a vast majority of these people were picked up by the Syrian regime forces, followed by the ISIS/Daesh.

A total of 84,371 were forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime forces, including 1,738 children and 4,982 women, it said.

An additional 8,648 individuals, including 319 children and 225 women, were disappeared by ISIS [Daesh], the report added.

Stating that disappearances were on the rise since 2011, the report said 991 people according to the Syrian regime died in detention. This figure included nine children and two women, the regime said.

The report noted that the regime "demonstrated a lack of commitment to the international agreements and treaties it has ratified" and that "approximately 65% of all detainees have become enforced-disappearance cases as the Syrian regime has never informed their families of their whereabouts."

Syria has been ravaged by civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.