Our investigation into testimonies of Syrian women kidnapped in the coastal region led us to Rabab (a pseudonym for security reasons), who was abducted in broad daylight and found herself in the same house as Basma (also a pseudonym). Both reported being beaten and insulted for being “Alawites,” according to their testimonies to investigators. Rabab was taken from a public square in a coastal village and found herself in a van not far from the abduction site, seeing that the vehicle passed no checkpoints. She was later thrown into a room in a house with Basma, who had been kidnapped before her.
Rabab recounts: “They tortured and beat us. We weren’t allowed to talk to each other, but I heard the kidnappers’ accents. One had a foreign accent, the other a local one from Idlib. I could tell because they cursed us for being Alawite.” The phenomenon is reminiscent of the Yazidi female kidnappings in Iraq, although it has not yet reached that scale.
Families of missing women continue to issue pleas for information about daughters abducted in broad daylight from coastal cities, villages, and the rural areas of Homs and Hama. We at Daraj tracked ten cases of abducted women and girls. The details of what happened to them remain shrouded in fear — best captured in the words of one father: “We wish we were dead.”
These pleas coincided with a “military operation” launched by the Syrian Ministry of Defense to “sweep” the coast in search of pro-Assad fighters who had ambushed public security forces, killing hundreds. The crackdown that followed included acts of brutal violence and random killings that targeted hundreds of Alawites.
Inside the house, testimonies collected by the investigation team confirmed that there were other women present, as the kidnapped victims could hear their voices. But identifying them was nearly impossible — the victims were handcuffed and shackled to chairs, with restraints only loosened when they needed to use the bathroom.
Rabab’s captivity lasted only a few days, as she overheard her captors talking about a possible raid by security forces. They moved her out, and she soon found herself back on the road. Basma, however, remained in captivity. Rabab recalls hearing one of the kidnappers tell the others not to harm her because “one of them had fallen in love with her.”
Rabab’s case is not unique. Social media has seen reports of women and girls who were kidnapped and later returned to their families — though the details remain murky and largely concealed.
Basma is still missing. However, she managed to call her family, who told investigators they saw signs of beatings on her face and significant weight loss. In the call, she reassured them that she was “okay” and insisted they not publish anything about her, saying she was alive but had no idea where she was.
A Double Layer of Silence
The fear of social stigma or “shame” in a conservative and traditional society — compounded by fear of retribution from the kidnappers — has forced the families of the abducted into a state of double silence. The kidnappers also reportedly threatened the families directly.
Among the testimonies collected is the case of an 18-year-old girl whose family received threatening messages. She had been kidnapped in broad daylight from a town in Syria’s coastal countryside. Later, her family received a message warning them to remain silent or risk having their daughter returned to them dead. She eventually contacted them via voice messages sent from a foreign number (Ivory Coast), telling them she was alive but didn’t know where she was.
Another kidnapped girl’s family received similar threats. She too contacted them via audio messages from a number based in another Arab country. In the message, she said she was “outside Syria” and that she had been married off — a development that allowed her to reassure her family she was still alive before communication was cut off.
Despite the official announcement of the end of the coastal “military operation” and the formation of a new fact-finding committee by Syria’s new authorities, killings have continued. Human Rights Watch has condemned these acts as “atrocities,” and Amnesty International has described them as “mass killings.” However, no official death toll has been released. Civilian sources and human rights documentation centers outside Syria estimate the death toll since the fall of the regime to exceed 2,000 — most of them in the coastal region.
In addition to the killings, the phenomenon of women and girls being kidnapped in broad daylight has become increasingly visible. Photos of the abducted are circulated by their families or local groups on social media, often with phone numbers included, in hopes of finding any clues about their fate.
By comparing and cross-referencing these stories, it becomes clear that there are multiple patterns of abduction. Some girls fled massacres in fear and later returned home. Others were kidnapped and remain missing. Disturbingly, some returned while others only managed to make contact with their families before disappearing again — some reportedly ended up outside Syria.
Gathering these stories and testimonies is fraught with difficulty. Survivors and the families of the missing are often afraid to speak out — not only to avoid social stigma or shame associated with abduction, but also because the kidnappers monitor social media and issue threats against anyone who posts or speaks publicly, demanding answers about the missing.
This fear and the need to protect witnesses’ identities led us to adopt a narrative-based investigative technique. The testimonies (drawn from interviews with ten direct victims or first-degree relatives) are presented with all identifying information removed — no names, no specific locations, and no details that could reveal identities. The narrative is structured around themes and concepts, rather than individual stories, especially since there is no confirmed information about who the kidnappers are or who they are affiliated with.
Kidnapped in Broad Daylight!
We mapped out the areas where abductions are taking place by cross-referencing social media reports with testimonies we gathered. Several witnesses stated that sharing photos of the abducted girls or inquiring about their whereabouts on social media often ended with the families receiving threatening messages from anonymous Syrian or foreign numbers. These messages warned the families to stop posting about the girls or demanding their return — or they would receive their daughters back as corpses.
What’s striking is that the abductions we tracked took place in broad daylight, and often in non-isolated areas. Some victims were taken while going about their daily routines — shopping, commuting to work, or heading to school.
Testimonies pointed to white vans being used in the kidnappings. One witness was able to identify the model of a van from surveillance footage dated March 23, 2025, at 2:23 PM, shortly after one of the girls was kidnapped. However, the vehicle bore no license plate.
The mother of one kidnapped girl told Daraj that there’s no way forward due to a lack of evidence, and no way to identify the kidnappers or the car. She concludes her conversation, telling Daraj: “There’s no accountability. I don’t trust anyone anymore, not even the new government. Even if they imprison me, I don’t care anymore.”
General Security: Technical Inability to Track Leads
Most of the families we contacted had filed complaints with the General Security in the areas where the kidnappings occurred. While investigations were reportedly opened and officials showed some cooperation, technical limitations prevented tracking the Syrian phone numbers used for threats. Furthermore, the kidnappers’ cars either lacked license plates or had plates that can’t be traced. Some of those that had plates were a dead end too, as the individuals they were registered to couldn’t be reached.
Some families of the abducted girls were not spared humiliation and mockery. They were told to consider leaving Syria, warned that any investigation would lead nowhere, or reminded that if a married woman who was kidnapped were to return to her husband or family, she would have to observe the waiting period (iddah), as she would be considered, in effect, divorced. This was a veiled reference to the possibility that the abducted woman had been forcibly married or “enslaved.”
We attempted to contact General Security officials in Syria’s coastal region to ask about the steps taken to uncover the fate of the missing girls or the identity of their abductors. We received no response.
Has “Enslavement” Been Revived?
Due to tight media restrictions in coastal areas and the fear families feel about speaking out publicly, rumors are spreading — most notably, claims that the repeated abductions of Alawite girls are a form of revived enslavement or captivity (sabi). This practice, notoriously revived by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, involved the kidnapping and enslavement of women — particularly Yazidi women — hundreds of whom are still missing.
However, the al-Nusra Front (a group that split from ISIS and later became Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) never engaged in formalized enslavement practices during its control of northern Syria. While it was known for enforcing a strict dress code, suppressing freedoms, and at times even executing women publicly, it did not carry out systematic enslavement.
Researcher and writer Hussam Jazmati told Daraj: “The history of al-Nusra Front — and later Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham — contains no record of enslaving women. That was limited to ISIS, which revived the historical practice of sabi and applied it to Yazidi women. Other factions in Syria did not engage in such practices. Documented kidnappings before the fall of the regime were mostly intended for prisoner exchanges with the government. The motives behind current kidnappings are likely more complex — possibly individual or criminal in nature. There’s no confirmed information or credible reports pointing to the revival of enslavement practices against Syrian women.”
Kidnappings and related stories are still being posted almost daily at the time of this report. Families are sharing images and pleas for information on social media in hopes of locating their daughters. The region’s ongoing security vacuum only fuels these cases, including one recent incident where a girl was kidnapped in rural Latakia and later found in Damascus. Meanwhile, Syrian General Security has released videos showing hostages being rescued and alleged kidnapping gangs being arrested. However, what makes the Alawite women’s and girls’ abductions especially difficult to resolve is that the kidnappers have not demanded ransom. Instead, they have issued only threats, telling the families and husbands to stay silent — or face the consequences.
