The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday, August 21, the release of aid workers who had been kidnapped in eastern Daraa while transporting relief supplies from Jaramana in Rural Damascus to Suwayda province.
In a statement via its official Facebook page, the ministry said Internal Security Forces succeeded in freeing the abductees from Daraa under the supervision of Brig. Gen. Shahir Imran, head of Internal Security in the province, who oversaw the process until their arrival in Damascus.
Upon their return to the capital, Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Dalati, head of Internal Security in Suwayda, received the freed workers to check on their condition and oversee their handover to their families.
Incident details
The abduction took place on August 13, when unidentified gunmen ambushed a relief convoy in eastern Daraa that was carrying aid from Jaramana to Suwayda. Several aid workers were kidnapped, including Abed Abu Fakhr, Fidaa Azzam, Yamen Mamdouh al-Sahnawi, and Radwan Zaid al-Sahnawi.
The “Druze Muslim Community Endowment Committee” in Jaramana said in a statement on August 14 that the convoy had set out “after obtaining the necessary approvals from the relevant government authorities, with the aim of delivering support to our affected people in Suwayda.”
The committee added that before reaching the Bosra al-Sham crossing, the convoy was ambushed by unidentified armed groups who assaulted the vehicles, looted their contents, and detained the drivers and escorts on their humanitarian mission.
Recurring kidnappings
On August 17, unidentified gunmen intercepted a minibus in Daraa and kidnapped eight passengers—six young women and two men—who were traveling from Sahnaya in Rural Damascus to Suwayda via the “humanitarian crossing” in Bosra al-Sham, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Daraa.
Local networks in Jaramana also circulated a notice to bus owners and transport offices, urging them to “suspend trips to Suwayda and cancel all scheduled routes, due to repeated kidnappings, assaults on buses and private vehicles, and shootings with intent to kill.”
Earlier, on July 16, Hamza al-Amareen, head of the Emergency Response Center of the Syrian Civil Defense in Izra, eastern Daraa, was kidnapped. His fate remains unknown after he went missing while evacuating civilians and transporting the wounded from conflict zones in Suwayda, amid ongoing calls to disclose his whereabouts.
Despite the deployment of Internal Security Forces along the administrative border between Daraa and Suwayda, the ministry continues to struggle to secure the area, facing limited capacity to mobilize additional forces quickly when kidnappings or vehicle attacks occur.
Residents of Suwayda have resorted to using the “humanitarian crossing” in Bosra al-Sham after the main Damascus–Suwayda highway was closed following a series of attacks since July 13 between local factions in Suwayda and Bedouin tribes, with the involvement of Interior and Defense Ministry forces.
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