More than 300,000 people may have disappeared in Syria During the decades of the country’s governance by the Assad family (Hafez al -Assad and Bashar al -Assad) during the period of the civil war. This shocking statement was made yesterday (18.08.2025) by the chairman of a Syrian committee for the missing.
THE Mohammed Reda Jalhithe chairman of this committee set up in May said that the investigation, based on the mandate he has received, begins in 1970, the year that the power in Syria took over in Syria. Hafez al -Assadreaches to his son’s rule, Bashar al -Assad and continues on the head of his transitional government Ahmed Hussein al -Saraa.
“We estimate that the number of people who disappeared is between 120,000 – 300,000. The number may be higher, ”he told the official Sana news agency.
Tens of thousands of people were arrested or disappeared after the civil war broke out in 2011, following the bloody suppression of anti -government demonstrations by then President Bashar al -Assad, the son of Hafez. Bashar al -Assad was overthrown in December 2024 by a coalition of Islamist rebels under the Ahmed Hussein al -Saraa.
During the war, all sides have been accused of cruelty – such as jihadist organization Islamic State which occupied large areas in Syria and Iraq and proceeded with violence and summary executions.
“We have a map that records more than 63 group graves in Syria,” Jalich said, without giving more clarifications. He added that an attempt was made to create a database for the missing.
‘43,000 people are being sought’
Thousands of prisoners have been released after the fall of Assad but many Syrians are still looking for their traces of relatives.
In January, the Chairman of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Miriana Spoliaric He said it would be a “colossal challenge” to find the missing civil war. The PSC has recorded and is looking for 43,000 people, but this number is probably much smaller than the total number of missing.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, More than 100,000 people died in detentionfrom torture or because of the miserable conditions in Syrian prisons during the civil war.