The head of Internal Security in Suwayda (southern Syria), Hossam al-Tahan, announced on Thursday, September 18, the release of several abducted residents of the province who had been kidnapped on the Suwayda–Damascus highway.
According to the Suwayda Governorate’s press office, al-Tahan said Internal Security forces in the province, in coordination with their counterparts in Rural Damascus, managed to free the hostages after continuous surveillance operations. He confirmed that efforts are underway to return them to their families.
The newly appointed security chief of Suwayda city, Suleiman Abdul Baqi, wrote on his Facebook page earlier that five people had been released, three of them from the al-Shoufi family. They were kidnapped in the Sayyida Zainab area of Rural Damascus six days earlier while traveling to Lebanon.
Abdul Baqi said their release was carried out through cooperation between security forces and residents, adding that the hostages’ locations were identified by tracking mobile devices used by what he described as “kidnapping gangs.”
Neither al-Tahan nor Abdul Baqi disclosed the identity or motives of the kidnappers.
Enab Baladi contacted Abdul Baqi to obtain more details about the operation and the kidnappers’ objectives, but no response was received at the time of publication.
Earlier, on September 11, the al-Shoufi family issued a statement holding the Syrian government responsible for revealing the fate of their missing relatives. The statement, published by the local “Suwayda 24” network, said that family members, along with two others, were abducted while heading to work. Their last contact had been at the Conference Palace checkpoint at the entrance to Damascus before communication was abruptly cut off.
According to “Suwayda 24,” one of the families later confirmed receiving a phone call demanding a ransom, though the identity of those behind it could not be verified.
“Fake lists”
On September 17, Abdul Baqi wrote on Facebook that there is no accurate list of abductees from Suwayda.
He stressed that the kidnapped men and women are not held by official authorities but by “kidnapping gangs” that had entered the province. He said the state was ready to act on any credible information and urged residents to cooperate in holding perpetrators accountable.
He described the published lists of abductees as containing fictitious names “exploited for projects serving only their promoters and to trade in the blood of Suwayda’s sons.”
Abdul Baqi expressed readiness to help families overcome what he called “the painful reality endured by Suwayda.”
Background of the kidnappings
The cycle of abductions in Suwayda began on March 12 with tit-for-tat kidnappings between local factions loyal to Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri and Bedouin tribes.
On July 14, forces from the Interior and Defense Ministries entered the province to quell the fighting but were confronted by local factions following reports of violations by government forces.
Israel later intervened in the conflict, leading to the withdrawal of government troops and the handover of the security file to local factions, which in turn committed violations against Bedouin families.
Today, the government controls more than 30 villages in Suwayda’s eastern and northern countryside, while local factions hold sway over the rest of the province, including the city center.
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