200 Syrians missing after arrest by regime forces near Damascus

The fate of around 200 Syrians, mostly women and children, remains unknown after they were detained at a checkpoint run by Syrian regime forces while travelling to Damascus from opposition-held areas in north Syria.

According to The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the group of civilians were visiting their displaced relatives in rebel-held northern Syria and were arrested on their way back to the Syrian capital.

The arrest of the civilians was reported by activists and local online groups, which said that they were detained at the Baghdad Bridge checkpoint, located at the northern entrance to Damascus, on 3 September.

The reason behind their arrest remains unknown, with no information provided on if any of them had been released.

The head of the Syrian opposition Negotiating Committee, Badr Jamous, called on the UN's special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, to intervene immediately and find out what happened to the detainees.

In a letter sent to Pedersen on Thursday, Jamous demanded pressure on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s government to release the detainees, expressing deep concern for their lives and fate.

Jamous emphasised that the incident was further "evidence that Syria is not safe for its people in light of the presence of the regime in Damascus", and that President Bashar al-Assad's regime's actions confirm that they do not want the return of Syrians.

He further added that the regime's security and military apparatus are punishing Syrians for communicating with each other, and encouraging the division of Syria, seeking to displace and disperse its people.

The Negotiating Committee's media office said the arrest took place near the Al-Qatifah area in the Damascus countryside, with the detainees transferred to the Al-Sumaira area before being moved again to the Al-Khatib Branch of the general intelligence directorate.

An activist named Mohammed Al-Khatib from eastern Ghouta told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that there have been many prior arrests of people returning from northern Syria, but added that he was unsure of how many exactly, saying it could be from a few dozen to as many as 200 people.

Al-Khatib added that the trip which resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people set off from Damascus on Monday, heading towards the city of Manbij in Aleppo province, which is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

It then went to the regime controlled city of Aleppo in northern Syria before returning to the outskirts of Damascus at dawn on Wednesday where regime forces stopped the buses and detained civilians, saying they were coming from areas controlled by opposition factions from northern Syria.

According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Syrian regime security forces recently launched raids where dozens of people in the Damascus countryside were detained.

Around 386 people, who had previously "regularized their status" with the Syrian regime were arrested last year, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said in a recent report.

The rights group issued a report last month on World Refugee Day noting that it had documented at least 4,714 cases in which Syrian refugees and Internally Displaced Peoples returning to Syria had been arrested by regime forces between 2014 and June 2024.

It added that the violations that were still being practiced in Syria were the main reason behind the flight of millions of Syrians from their country, noting that this was the reason behind refugees not returning. It said that this was in fact generating more refugees.