Wave of Abductions Targets Alawite Women in Syria After Assad’s Fall, Reuters Investigation Reveals

Watan-“Don’t wait for her… she’s not coming back.” This chilling WhatsApp message was received by the family of a woman named Abeer on May 21, hours after she vanished from the streets of Safita, Syria.

Her kidnapper—and later a self-proclaimed intermediary—threatened she would be killed or sold into trafficking unless her family paid a $15,000 ransom. Abeer herself made a brief call days later, using the kidnapper’s Iraqi-numbered phone, saying, “I’m not in Syria… everything around me is strange.”

Reuters reviewed 12 messages and calls exchanged between the family, the kidnapper, and the intermediary.

Abeer is one of at least 33 Alawite women and girls, aged 16 to 39, reported missing in 2025 amid Syria’s post-Assad collapse. The fall of the regime in December, after a 14-year war, unleashed waves of anti-Alawite violence, with armed factions reportedly attacking coastal Alawite areas in March, leaving hundreds dead.

Since then, social media has been flooded with videos and pleas from desperate families. According to Reuters’ review, nearly all new cases involve Alawite women, with no known cases involving women from other sects.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria confirmed it is investigating these disappearances, planning to report findings to the UN Human Rights Council.

Ransoms, Silence, and Fear

Abeer’s family borrowed money from friends and neighbors, sending $15,000 through 30 transfers to three accounts in Izmir, Turkey. After the last transfer on May 28, the kidnapper disappeared. Her fate remains unknown.

Out of 16 families Reuters interviewed:

• 7 received ransom demands ranging from $1,500 to $100,000.

• 3 were told their relatives had been moved abroad.

• 8 girls were under 18.

• 9 families still have no information at all.

The abductions occurred mainly in Tartus, Latakia, and Hama, regions with significant Alawite populations. Nearly half of the missing women have returned, but none agreed to speak publicly—most citing security concerns.

Most families said police dismissed their cases or failed to investigate. Syrian officials declined comment, while local authorities downplayed the issue, calling many disappearances “family disputes” or runaway brides—without offering evidence.

A Pattern of Targeting

Human rights activist Yamen Hussein said the disappearances spiked after the March violence and appear to target Alawites exclusively. Some girls now skip school out of fear.

“Targeting women from the defeated group is a form of humiliation,” he said, recalling similar tactics used by both Assad’s regime and opposition factions during earlier war years.

The youngest victim is 17-year-old Zainab, who vanished on her way to school in February. Her suspected abductor warned the family not to post her photo or “she’ll be sent back in pieces.”

Some returned women described trauma, drugging, and ransom negotiations. Others reappeared and denied being kidnapped, though family members insist they were forced to lie under pressure.

One 16-year-old girl who appeared in a video claimed she fled willingly to marry a Sunni man. Her family said she was abducted and forced into marriage. Reuters could not verify either claim.

Echoes of ISIS Atrocities

Several families fear a repeat of the Yazidi nightmare under ISIS, where thousands of women were trafficked and enslaved. With Syria’s post-Assad leadership struggling to fill the vacuum, and former jihadists now in government security roles, those fears feel alarmingly real.

Naghm Shadi, a 23-year-old Alawite woman, went missing earlier this month while buying milk. Her father, displaced during March’s violence, waits in agony for news.

“Ya Allah… what else can we do?” he said.