Gun ownership rockets in northwest Syria as civilians buy weapons to 'defend against kidnap, theft and murder'

An informal and illicit arms trade is rampant in northern Syria, and civilians don't need licences to buy – a situation generated by a longstanding security vacuum which has created fertile soil for such a development.

This is the case both in regions controlled by the Salvation Government affiliated to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and where the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) affiliated to the Turkey-backed opposition factions reigns.

After over a decade of war, the region has seen the 'rule of law' shredded and a complete lack of accountability take root. It has become easy for anyone to illegally obtain arms – the lack of monitoring, and neglect of the de facto authorities to prosecute those involved, or adopt measures to curb the phenomenon, has only exacerbated the rise of this dangerous situation.

"An informal and illicit arms trade is rampant in northern Syria, and civilians don't need licences to buy – a situation generated by a longstanding security vacuum which has created fertile soil for such a development"

Self-defence in a security vacuum

The excuse is self-defence — in the midst of rising incidents of theft, kidnappings and killings – creating a vicious circle by which the spread of arms and arms dealers has become yet another factor feeding into the lack of safety and security plaguing northwest Syria.

On the subject, Fares Shawaf (45), a defecting officer from the regime army who is now a member of an opposition faction living in Afrin, said that most weapons circulating in the region were originally looted from the defeated Assad army forces and are Russian and Iranian in make.

He said to The New Arab that those seized were a mix of light, medium and heavy arms: "We took control of many regime checkpoints in the past, and fully-stocked weapons depots, before the Syrian regime called on the Russian forces and took control of most of the opposition-held regions south of Idlib and north of Hama, and the fighters and factions kept what they had previously seized, and took them to the areas they fled to in northwest Syria."

The beginning of the trade

After the battles calmed, he says, some "reckless" commanders started selling small arms like pistols and rifles to traders who began selling them to civilians at various prices – in time they were accessible to anyone who requested.

Shawaf doesn't deny the significant quantity of weapons imported from states like Turkey, India and some Arab states he doesn't name, which have been imported via weapons traders who bring them into the region after paying a lot of royalties and taxes to the current authorities, however, he believes they are much fewer than those seized from regime forces.

For a while, and until recently, weapons stores had opened in the markets of Idlib and in the rural areas of Aleppo and openly sold small arms, ammunition, hunting weapons, military clothing and wireless equipment.

"Arguments frequently break out where you see civilians pull out guns and start brandishing them, especially in the IDP camps"

On the reasons pushing civilians to buy weapons, Jaber Fadel, a civil activist in Jindires city, northwest of Aleppo, says self-defence in light of the prevailing security void is the main reason, though some have other motives, like vengeance or to use them to brag and intimidate.

Fadel criticises the unprecedented and indiscriminate spread of weapons and the lack of any regulations to curb it. He says hardly a day passes without one or more accidental death, in which various weapons have been used, from pistols to rifles and even medium-sized machine guns, in addition to explosive devices, which are no longer used exclusively by the armed factions, but are being resorted to settling personal and tribal scores too.

He says arguments frequently break out where you see civilians pull out guns and start brandishing them, especially in the IDP camps. Likewise, accidental killings from guns being fired on special occasions have risen, resulting from low awareness among civilians of how dangerous this is, especially among children or teenagers who aren't sufficiently knowledgeable about how to use these weapons safely.  

The human cost

Twenty-something Rawan Alkiyal, who lives in an IDP camp in Afrin, was injured by a stray shot fired by her little brother when he got hold of a handgun which their father owned. The gun was kept in a wardrobe, but the boy managed to get hold of it and fired it at random. A bullet hit Rawan's lower back, paralysing her immediately.

Rawan says the bullet from her father’s gun has ended all her dreams – she had wanted to complete her studies and was looking forward to life before she woke up to the nightmare of chronic disability and ill health.

While Rawan has been left disabled by the proliferation of weapons ownership among civilians, Farida al-Huloum's (25) story is even more tragic. She was murdered by her husband after a quarrel flared up between them. She had asked for a divorce due to her husband’s abusive and violent behaviour, and in response he shot her in the chest, killing her.

"We need weapons to defend ourselves, our family and our neighbourhoods against assault, whether kidnap, theft or assassination – we are living in a war situation"

Farida's mother said that over two months passed before the crime was revealed after her husband hid her body by hiding it in their home.

She said her daughter's husband had often bragged about having a weapon which never left his side and laments the authorities' failure to arrest him until this moment.

Likewise, pharmacist Bara Al Aklah was killed in Sarmin by a stray bullet after a dispute erupted between several men outside his pharmacy before one of them pulled out a gun and started shooting in all directions – one of the bullets hit the pharmacist in the head and killed him.

Criminal gangs acting with impunity

Besides the rise in deliberate and accidental killings, kidnappings and thefts have also increased, carried out by armed gangs now used to committing crimes with no deterrence. On 4 April, a young man, Mahmoud Al-Nasif, was kidnapped by an armed gang while returning from his work in Ma'arrat Misrin, north of Idlib.

Mahmoud said he was tortured by the gang who obtained a ransom of $25,000 from his family in exchange for his release, upon which he found himself mired in debts as his family had been forced to take out loans in order to meet the kidnappers' demands.

Hussam al-Sadiq (33) has a gun, which he justifies by arguing the current security conditions "mean we need weapons to defend ourselves, our family and our neighbourhoods against assault, whether kidnap, theft or assassination – we are living in a war situation which has imposed on us the need to carry weapons."

"Small-arms dealers now circulate photos of their wares on social media and in buy-and-sell groups on apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram"

He adds that his house has been broken into several times by robbers, and how if he hadn't had a weapon and defended himself and forced the robbers to flee, then the outcome would have been much worse. Carrying the gun made him feel strong, and able to confront criminals, and those who plotted to harm him or his family, as he puts it.

Moreover, despite the many militant bodies active in the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib, they don't seem able to control and confront the spread of weapons in the general population – hence Hussam's need for his weapon, he says.

In mid-2022, HTS issued a decision that all stores trading weapons in Idlib had to close due to the rise in killings and theft. However, they have been unable to bring the situation under control, and have had difficulty both confiscating weapons from civilians or even stopping the continued trade – the business simply shifted onto social media sites.

Weapons dealers move online

Small-arms dealers now circulate photos of their wares on social media and in buy-and-sell groups on apps like WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram. One of these groups is named "the Buy-And-Sell Arms Market" and another is "the First Sarmada Market for Used Weapons."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitored dozens of Facebook groups teeming with photographs of medium and light weaponry for sale to civilians at a range of prices. Weapons dealers run the groups, where a host of "products" are sold, from Russian Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, hand grenades and handguns to pouches and other military items. Thousands interact on these groups to buy or sell weapons – a Russian rifle will fetch between $200-$400; hand grenades between $15-$30.

Ibrahim al-Salim (39), a rights activist and Idlib resident doubts the HTS decision is about spreading security in the region, and solving this dilemma at the root as they claim. He believes instead that they are seeking to increase their revenues and expand their economic and trade activity in the region.

"Although civilians in northwest Syria justify their possession of weapons for personal safety, weapons proliferation among civil society is contributing to an rising death toll, increasing human rights violations and is exacerbating the security vacuum throughout the region"

He says that since all the weapons stores closed, HTS have sought to monopolise the trade and is controlling the prices of weapons and ammunition available in the stores.

Although civilians in northwest Syria justify their possession of firearms for personal safety, weapons proliferation among civil society is contributing to a rising death toll, increasing human rights violations and exacerbating the security vacuum throughout the region which further fuels a vicious cycle as civilians continue arming themselves in response – to the continuing backdrop of absent regulations, laws and monitoring.

Hadia Al Mansour is a freelance journalist from Syria who has written for Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Monitor, SyriaUntold and Rising for Freedom Magazine

Article translated from Arabic by Rose Chacko