Alawite women targeted in post-Assad chaos
Shafaq News – Damascus
Following the departure of Bashar al-Assad from power, a new pattern of violence has emerged in Syria, marked by the disappearance of women from his own sect.
Reuters has reported that at least 33 Alawite women and girls, aged between 16 and 39, have gone missing in 2025 amid a worsening security situation in al-Assad’s coastal strongholds.
In one case, the family of 29-year-old Abeer Suleiman, who went missing on May 21 in the town of Safita, received a call from an unknown individual who said, “Don’t wait for her.” Days later, the family received WhatsApp messages demanding a $15,000 ransom, with threats that she would be killed or trafficked if the payment was not made.
Suleiman later appeared in a recorded call, saying, “I am not in Syria… all the accents around me are strange.” The call was traced to an Iraqi phone number.
Such incidents appear to be part of a broader pattern. The abductions—so far reported only among Alawite women—have coincided with increasing attacks on the community since Al-Assad’s removal in December. Armed groups aligned with the transitional government have reportedly been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Alawites in the coastal areas since March.
Despite numerous appeals from families on social media, similar patterns of abductions have not been documented among other sects. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has launched an official investigation into the recent wave of disappearances.
The development has raised concerns about the safety of minority groups during periods of political change and has brought renewed attention to issues of accountability, regional trafficking, and sectarian violence.
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