“We Can’t Speak”: How Kidnapping and Rape Are Silencing Women in Syria
Since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, women have been transformed from mothers, workers, and students into strategic targets in a sectarian and field-based war of extermination.
By early 2025, violations shifted from sporadic assaults to a systematic pattern, in which women’s bodies are used as tools of intimidation, collective punishment, and the imposition of dominance under the cover of “security” or tribal authority.
In incidents that now appear routine, five masked individuals driving a silver Hyundai Santa Fe with an Idlib (temporary) license plate stormed a house in the village of Al-Ranissiya in the Akkar Plain in the countryside of Tartous.
The armed men beat and verbally abused the women inside the house and looted it. More dangerously, they attempted to abduct the women, but the intervention and gathering of villagers forced the attackers to flee, preventing yet another mass abduction.
The Abduction of Alawite Women Throughout the Year
August saw a rise in the frequency of women’s abductions. On August 11, 2025, Duha Salman Al-Mustafa (a mother of four, resident of Doueilaa, originally from Masyaf) disappeared while heading to the Directorate of Education on Baghdad Street in Damascus to apply for a teaching contract. Contact with her was lost around 10:00 a.m.
Duha, an Alawite woman, wore the hijab “out of fear of the security situation and hope for safety,” and returned days later without any details disclosed.
On August 17, in the Hama countryside, Bushra Mohammad Mithlij (39 years old, from Jableh, married in the village of Baareen in the countryside of Masyaf) disappeared.
She left her home around 9:00 a.m. heading to the National Hospital in Masyaf for medical tests, but never arrived. Her husband reported that contact was lost two hours after she left, and the hospital denied her presence.
On August 23, two girls went missing. The first was in the village of Zama in the countryside of Jableh, where Hanan Manhal Al-Hassan (18 years old) disappeared in her village and later returned without explanation.
The second was in Tartous city, where Khalidiya Ahmad Al-Aal disappeared after leaving her home at 10:30 a.m. to visit a friend in the Al-Baraniyeh neighborhood. Contact was lost, and reports later emerged that she returned the following day.
On August 25, the abduction of Marwa Ghazi Subh (31 years old) from the village of Al-Qurayyat near Masyaf was reported. Her husband received a call from her phone from an unknown person who insulted him and demanded a ransom before hanging up. The husband filed a complaint with the public prosecution in Masyaf.
On August 26, the disappearance of Ramah Shaheen (28 years old) and her young child was reported in Al-Rahiba, Damascus. They returned days later. Local sources reported that the child, who suffers from asthma, was in poor physical and psychological condition and had not received food or water throughout the days of abduction.
On August 28, the sister of Falak Khaled Mohammad (30 years old) reported her disappearance in the Al-Zahera Al-Jadida area of Damascus.
She Returned from Exile Only to Fall into the Hands of Al-Amshat
In September, the loss of contact with Yasmin Adeeb Sanbal (18 years old) was reported at around 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 4, 2025, in Ain Tarma, Rural Damascus.
In Homs, contact was lost with Ola Suhail Al-Suleiman (29 years old), an employee at Al-Baath University, after she left her home on Saturday, September 6, 2025. Contact was cut after she left the university around 12:30 p.m.
Raneem Fadi Mohammad (18 years old) disappeared in Safita and returned days later without details.
Contact was also lost with Norhan Jalal Al-Sarhan, a resident in Germany, after her arrival at Aleppo Airport while heading toward Kobani, amid fears that she had fallen into the hands of the Al-Amshat Division of the “new Syrian army,” notorious in the Deir Hafir area. The same division had previously been implicated in violations against Kurdish women before the fall of Assad.
Contact was also lost with Layal Iyad Al-Hafian (17 years old), a high-school senior, while she was on her way to her family’s home in the Akrama neighborhood. Her family filed an official report on September 14.
In Homs as well, local sources spoke of the abduction of the child Shahad Al-Halabouni (16 years old), from the Al-Waer neighborhood and belonging to the Shiite sect. Her ID card was found on the outskirts of Homs, before her father received a message hours later stating that she was safe and in Aleppo.
Contact was also lost with Rasha Kamel Mansour (30 years old) in the “Masaken Ras Al-Nabaa” area while she was heading to the grocery store she runs. The distance between her home and the shop is short, and her phone was switched off immediately after the disappearance.
Rewarding the Kidnapper
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 235 women and girls were abducted by militias loyal to the interim government, known as “Faz‘at Al-Asha’ir,” which are linked to the Ministries of Defense and Interior.
In July 2025, a video surfaced of Qusay Al-Shammari, one of the militia leaders, transporting abducted women from the village of Radima Al-Lawa, claiming he had rescued them after a massacre. Two young girls and their mother were detained for a full week before being released in a “prisoner exchange.” The family had been sheltering on their rooftop when their home was attacked with machine guns and grenades.
In a shocking scene, Al-Shammari later appeared at the Damascus International Fair alongside Minister of Culture Mohammad Yassin Al-Saleh, Minister of Tourism Mazen Al-Salhani, and the president’s media adviser Ahmad Mouaffaq Zaidan, reflecting official normalization with war criminals.
This normalization was not an exception, but an indicator of the transformation of kidnapping from an individual crime into an institutional policy.
Disinformation or Incompetence?
In a video released by Governor Al-Bakour in Suwayda, women appear inside a house with an armed man speaking on their behalf. No comment. No explanation. No names. No reason. The public interpreted the scene as a kidnapping because the state provided no clarification. Viewers argued this was not a media mistake but a deliberate tactic of disinformation. When the state does not explain, the public assumes the worst, and that is exactly what happens.
When a photo of the Minister of Culture with Qusay Al-Shammari, implicated in the abduction of families and the killing of children, is published at the Damascus International Fair without investigation or condemnation, this is documented normalization. If the state honors war criminals, it entrenches the message that crime is not a crime, it is a reward.
Under Syrian law, kidnapping or unlawful detention is punishable by six months to two years in prison; if it exceeds one month, the penalty becomes temporary hard labor. If accompanied by torture or violence, the sentence may reach life imprisonment. If the victim is under 12 years old, the penalty is harsher, and if kidnapping results in death, the death penalty applies.
But in reality, there are no trials. No prosecutions. No protection for victims. No accountability.
Researchers argue these are not isolated incidents, nor “security chaos,” nor “tribal conflicts.” This is an organized sectarian extermination war managed through three tools: the body as a weapon of terror, rape, abduction, public humiliation; the media as a tool of disinformation and blackout; and authority as a partner, through silence, absence, and possibly complicity.
Mass Abduction and Rape in Broad Daylight
In August 2025, horrific testimonies spread from the countryside of Aleppo, Hama, and Salhab, describing killings, abductions, and mass, brutal rapes carried out in broad daylight.
On September 8, 2025, Rawan, 20 years old and the sole provider for her family (a disabled brother and a deceased father), was raped while heading in the morning from the village of Hawarat Amourin to her job at a sweets factory in Salhab. She was intercepted by three armed men, reportedly from the Al-Asharna area, stripped of her clothes, gang-raped brutally, and left naked on the road. Residents of the same area found her, covered her, and informed her family.
Rawan Mahfouz was transferred to Al-Sqailbiyeh National Hospital. Despite many reports of similar crimes, this was the first time such a crime was documented with such detail and brutality. Her uncles issued a statement demanding accountability and the harshest punishment for the perpetrators, but, as with previous cases of abduction and rape, nothing happened.
Activists inside Syria note that popular silence is the backbone of this horrific reality, reflecting a known policy by perpetrators: anyone who speaks or acts is violated, with threats to violate the entire village.
“Even If Imam Ali Himself Came, We Still Can’t Speak”
This was evident when Syrian journalist Huda Abu Nabut attempted to reach local sources for details before state propaganda outlets exploited and downplayed the incident. The response from residents was:
“Even if Imam Ali himself came, we still couldn’t speak.”
While Rawan was heading to work, Maisa Hashem Issa left the Al-Ward neighborhood in Damascus looking for a job. On September 9, contact with her was lost. On August 12, her family announced they had received a call stating she would return and requested silence about details “for her safety.”
Rawan’s case was not the first in Salhab. On March 24, 2025, Douaa Fouad Abbas (29 years old), a mother of a three-year-old child, was abducted from inside her home in Salhab. Armed men broke down the door and forcibly dragged her into a car. Her husband, who is disabled, was unable to intervene. The incident occurred despite the presence of a security checkpoint only minutes away. Douaa has not returned to this day.
According to an activist in contact with the family, Douaa’s child suffers from severe psychological trauma, constantly fearing that his father will also disappear, repeatedly checking that he is still in the room.
Crimes Without Accountability
In Homs, suffering continues inside what is known as “Al-Ballouneh Prison” or Branch 55, where dozens of women from different governorates are detained without charge and subjected to physical torture and repeated sexual harassment by guards. No trials. No family visits. No international monitoring.
With major crimes left unpunished, daily violence persists as a deeply rooted phenomenon.
In Damascus, a woman reported an attempted abduction while heading to work downtown. A tinted car sprayed a sedative substance toward her face, hitting her neck instead. Warnings circulate among women across all governorates: “Don’t walk alone. Don’t open the door to anyone. Don’t trust anyone.”
In Aleppo, two gunmen on a motorcycle stormed the Bitar family home in the Kallaseh neighborhood and shot Shadi Bitar dead. His pregnant sister and another sister were killed, while his mother and young nephew were injured. No investigation was announced. No photos of the perpetrators were published.
In rural Hama, Amira Nassouri (77 years old) was killed at dawn when a hand grenade was thrown into her home, injuring her husband.
In Hama as well, when women attempted to submit complaints to the governorate, “General Security” forces assaulted them with beatings and intimidation. One woman was demanding justice for her disappeared son. A circulated video shows terrified women and armed men raising batons.
On the 100th day since his sister Abir Younes Suleiman’s abduction, her brother wrote on his personal page: “May God never forgive them,” noting that the family paid large sums in ransom.
May Salloum
The case of May Salloum remains controversial after she appeared in videos denying her abduction. Her family rejected the narrative presented in the video, with her sister publishing clarifications stating that the recording was made under pressure and coercion.
She explained that May began the video by saying she hugged her child, something the family insists never happened, and considered evidence that the content was scripted to serve the abductors.
The sister also denied claims of family disputes or May’s desire to leave her husband, emphasizing that “the social environment on the Syrian coast does not force women to remain in unwanted marriages, and separation is possible through legal means,” undermining the claim that she left voluntarily.
She added that the claim that May traveled to Aleppo to meet a Facebook friend is illogical, given the security and economic conditions. The video showed May in a place with unidentified women and children, reinforcing the family’s belief that she is being held in an unfamiliar environment, not one she chose. She did not use her own phone to contact her family and appeared only in monitored recordings.
Her sister continues to post videos showing moments of joy May shared with her family and children, asking:
“How do you expect me to believe that my sister, who used to get her hair done every week and take care of herself, would go to a village in rural Aleppo, marry a married man with children, wear the hijab, and abandon her children and life?”
In every city, in every village, a woman is writing her testimony on torn paper, on Facebook, or in broken silence. She is not only asking for justice, but she is also asking to be seen, to be heard, and not be forgotten.
Written by: A journalist from Syria who chose to remain anonymous
