Abductions, extra-judicial killings mount in Syria under HTS rule.

Some 400 kidnappings and killings have been reported since the government of Bashar al-Assad was toppled in early December.

Nine civilians were kidnapped and executed by unknown gunmen in the Syrian cities of Homs and Jableh, as revenge killings continue in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s ousting earlier this month, Sputnik News reported on 31 December.

The sources added that four young men in the city of Homs were kidnapped by masked gunmen riding two four-wheel drive vehicles on Monday. Their fate is unknown.

In the countryside of Latakia, the western countryside of Hama, and Aleppo, a further 15 people have been kidnapped in the past 48 hours, Sputnik added.

Medical sources speaking with Sputnik say that some 400 kidnappings and killings have been reported across Syria since militants from HTS toppled the Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad on 8 December.

Many victims are members of Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.

The HTS leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, became Syria’s de facto leader and has formed a caretaker government. Sharaa was formerly a deputy of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq. He traveled to Syria in 2011 on Baghdadi’s orders to found the Nusra Front, which later became HTS.

The HTS-led Syrian government has required all members of the previous government’s army and security forces to turn in their weapons and undergo a reconciliation process to ensure they have not committed any acts HTS considers as crimes – The Cradle Media report.

Revived’ ISIS killed over 750 people in nearly 500 attacks in Syria throughout 2024.
The past 12 months witnessed a marked spike in ISIS operations, with many being launched from US-occupied regions of Syria.

The report highlights that at least 78 of those were civilians – including women and children – while 568 were members of the disbanded Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Furthermore, another 107 people were killed in areas controlled by the US-backed SDF in Deir Ezzor, Hasakah, Aleppo, and Raqqah. The figure is divided between 30 civilians and 77 members of the SDF, the Internal Security Forces (Asayish), and other groups in the US-controlled regions.

As ISIS continues to revitalize its forces, concerns are increasing about the fate of 10,000 ISIS fighters imprisoned by the SDF in northeast Syria. Kurdish officials stated earlier this month that an ongoing offensive by former ISIS and Al-Qaeda factions – supported by Turkiye and allied with the “transitional government” in Damascus – poses a direct “threat” to the security of these prisons.

The Cradle Media report