After the liberation of Fawaz Qetaifan, the Syrian people are concerned about the possibility of an escalation in the activity of kidnapping gangs

After the liberation of the Syrian child "Fawaz Qetaifan" three months after his kidnapping, in exchange for a ransom, and his return to his family in a town in the central countryside of Daraa in Syria, the country's concern has turned to the possibility of "an escalation in the activity of kidnapping gangs in Syria with the aim of collecting money," according to the observatory. Syrian Human Rights.

The observatory said that "the fact that the ruling authority is unable to pursue (the gangs) and restrain them in light of the chaos and security chaos that is rampant throughout the Syrian lands in general, and in particular the areas under the control of the Syrian government, which do not enjoy the minimum elements of security and safety, makes the ground fertile for the activity of these gangs."

The observatory revealed that there are other cases of kidnapping in Syria, some of which have been years old.

He said that the release of the child Fawaz "revitalized the issue of hundreds of kidnapped and forcibly disappeared children in Syria over the years of war, as many of the families of these children do not disclose what happened to their children, hoping that they will one day return to their arms."

The observatory tells the story of the eight-year-old girl, Salam Hassan al-Khalaf, who also hails from Daraa.

Al-Khalaf was kidnapped in March of the year 2020, while returning from school.

The observatory said, "Unidentified persons traveling in a H1 van intercepted her, and she was taken to an unknown destination, and her news has been cut off since the date of her kidnapping until the moment the news was prepared."

The girl's family found her clothes and school bag on a farm near her town, a week after her disappearance, and some trolls tried to convince her family to pay money to return her, but without providing evidence that she was alive with them.

Reports of an increase in kidnappings in Syria go back to the early stages after the revolution against the Syrian government.

Amnesty International has recorded testimonies about the disappearance of "thousands" from 2011 to 2015.

"Hundreds of thousands are in squalid prisons across the country - as a result of torture, disease and appalling conditions. Countless others are crammed into cells, including children as young as two years old," the organization said.

Many families do not know where they are being held, or if they have been detained or kidnapped, which complicates efforts to count them.

Some groups fighting the Syrian army have also kidnapped civilians, including children.

Human Rights Watch said that ISIS kidnapped thousands of people during the years they controlled the country, their fate is still unknown, including children.

The organization's reports quoted cases of people who were detained by the organization, whose fate was not known after that, and the organization documented the training of the children it had kidnapped and turned them into fighters.

Relief Web website recorded testimonies of 11-year-old children kidnapped by other armed groups such as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The organization said, quoting its sources, that the girl was kidnapped in July 2020, by soldiers from those forces.

The organization added that there are dozens of children fighting with the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The International Organization for Missing Persons (ICMP) says that reports indicate the disappearance of about 100,000 people in Syria, without knowing their fate, until 2019.

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