Amnesty urges Syria to probe abductions of Alawite women, girls
The report came months after Islamists overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite who painted himself as a protector of minorities, and followed massacres in March in Syria's coastal Alawite heartland that a monitor said killed some 1,700 people, mostly Alawite civilians.
A committee investigating the March massacres said last week it had not received reports of the abduction of women or girls.
Amnesty said it documented eight of the 36 abduction and kidnapping cases involving Alawite women and girls reported since February in Latakia, Tartus, Homs and Hama provinces.
All eight families reported the abductions, but in almost all cases, "police and security officials failed to effectively investigate", and in two instances, the personnel blamed the families.
Only two of the eight victims had returned to their families, it added.
"The Alawite community, already devastated by previous massacres, has been deeply shaken by this wave of abductions. Women and girls are afraid to leave the house or walk alone," Amnesty International's secretary general Agnes Callamard said in the statement.
Syrian authorities "must urgently step up efforts to prevent gender-based violence and promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate cases of abducted and kidnapped Alawite women and girls, and hold perpetrators accountable," the rights group said.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said last month that it had "documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six" Alawite women and "received credible reports of more abductions".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Bawaba
an hour ago
- Al Bawaba
'Our Weapons Stay': Hamas rejects reports of willingness to disarm
ALBAWABA - Reports say that Hamas is ready to give up its weapons, but the group has said that disarming will not be considered until a fully independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital has been established. On Saturday, the statement came in reaction to comments said to have come from U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Wietcuff and were spread by Israeli media. These comments said the group had shown willingness to disarm. Hamas says that having weapons is a "national and legal right." As long as Israel occupies the Palestinian territories, Hamas said in its formal statement that armed resistance is both a national and legal right. It did this by quoting international agreements and laws. The movement said, "We cannot give up our weapons until all of our national rights are restored. Most importantly, we demand the creation of a separate Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." Hamas refuses to disarm until Palestinian state established — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 2, 2025 How Wietcuff Got to See Gaza and Israel Friday, Wietcuff went on a tour of a center in Rafah, southern Gaza, where food aid is distributed. He did this while under high security. He looked at the humanitarian situation and how relief was being delivered while global hunger watchers warned of an impending famine in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. representative had met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day before to try to restart peace talks that had been held up and to talk about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The uproar over Wietcuff's comments comes at a time when diplomacy attempts to end the war are still stuck. Hamas has said over and over that it will only agree to the full release of the hostages if the war ends, Israeli troops leave the area, and Palestinian prisoners are freed.
Jordan Times
5 hours ago
- Jordan Times
Israel army chief warns of combat 'without rest' unless hostages are freed
JERUSALEM — Israel's top general has warned that there will be no respite in fighting in Gaza if negotiations fail to quickly secure the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory. "I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," said army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, according to a military statement. "If not, the combat will continue without rest," he said, during remarks to officers inside Gaza on Friday. Footage released by the Israeli military showed Zamir meeting soldiers and officers in a command centre. Of the 251 people who were kidnapped from Israel during Hamas's attack in October 2023, 49 remain in Gaza, 27 of them dead, according to the military. Palestinian armed groups this week released two videos of hostages looking emaciated and weak. Negotiations, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, to secure a ceasefire and their release broke down last month, and some in Israel have called for tougher military action. This comes against the backdrop of growing pressure, both internationally and domestically, including from many of the hostages' families, to resume efforts to secure a ceasefire in the nearly 22-month conflict. Aid agencies have meanwhile warned that Gaza's population is facing a catastrophic famine, triggered by Israeli restrictions on aid. Zamir nonetheless rejected these allegations out of hand. "The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF [military], a moral army, of war crimes," he said. "The ones responsible for the killing and suffering of the residents in the Gaza Strip is Hamas." Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Jordan Times
5 hours ago
- Jordan Times
US promises Gaza food plan after envoy visit
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — President Donald Trump's special envoy promised a plan to deliver more food to Gaza after inspecting a US-backed distribution centre on Friday, as the United Nations said Israeli forces had killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians waiting for aid over the past two months. The visit by US envoy Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to aid points run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation [GHF]. The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza had been killed since May 27, 105 of them in the last two days of July. "Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near GHF sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys. Witkoff said he had spent more than five hours inside Gaza, in an online post accompanied by a photograph of himself wearing a protective vest and meeting staff at a GHF distribution centre. The visit intended to give Trump "a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza," Witkoff said. Trump echoed this in a phone call with US news site Axios touting a plan to "get people fed". "We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened long time ago," Trump said according to Axios. 'Gunning them down' The US president did not say whether his plan would involve reinforcing GHF or a whole new mechanism, the report said. The GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza just as Israel in late May began easing a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages. The foundation said it had delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza during the visit by Witkoff and US ambassador Mike Huckabee. Gaza's civil defence agency said 22 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Friday, including eight who were waiting to collect food aid. In its report on the GHF centres, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of using starvation as a weapon of war. "Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," said HRW's associate crisis and conflict director, Belkis Wille. "US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths." The Israeli military said in response that the GHF worked independently, but that troops operated near aid sites "to enable the orderly delivery of food" while trying to "minimise... any friction between the civilian population" and its forces. The military accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution, and said it was conducting a review of reported deaths. Witkoff on Thursday held talks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy Hamas and rescue hostages seized in the Palestinian group's October 2023 attack that triggered the war. But Netanyahu is under mounting international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry, and threatened many more with famine.
