Families and relatives of detainees and prisoners held in Israeli army prisons held a protest outside the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in Damascus, denouncing what they described as arbitrary arrests carried out by Israel in southern Syria.
The protesters, on Sunday, April 26, called on the Syrian state to seek their release and urged the international community and the United Nations to intervene and reveal the fate of the detainees.
Khalil Ahmad Leila, one of the participants in the protest, told Enab Baladi that Israeli army forces are increasing the pace of arbitrary arrests. During the protest outside the Syrian Foreign Ministry, he called for revealing the fate of the detainees, especially as some have been held for two years, while others are still minors.
Israeli army incursions continue in rural Quneitra (southern Syria), amid search campaigns, raids, arrests, and the establishment of checkpoints on roads.
Demands Presented to Foreign Ministry Committee
Hasan Saad al-Din, head of the gathering and the father of a detainee held by Israel, told Enab Baladi that a committee from the Syrian Foreign Ministry met with the families, who presented their demands. These included interventions to end arbitrary arrests, secure the release of detainees, and provide details about them.
The number of detainees is estimated at 46, from the governorates of Quneitra, Daraa (southern Syria), and Rural Damascus (southwestern Syria).
Saad al-Din added that the committee formed at the Foreign Ministry promised to follow up on the detainees’ conditions and present the file to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Demands Over Detained School Students
The families of the detainees demanded, in a statement, the release of their sons. The statement explained that some families have more than one detainee, and that some detainees are still school students.
The statement also called for intensified efforts with international organizations to intervene and reveal the fate of the detainees, to make their release a condition in any future negotiations with the Israeli army, and to raise detainee cases before international courts and forums.
The families called for forming a committee from the Syrian Foreign Ministry to follow up on the detainees’ conditions, brief the families, and communicate with them in the event of any developments. They also stressed the need to raise detainee cases in official media in depth as a comprehensive national issue, and for serious government action to end the issue of detainees and prisoners, according to their statement.
UNDOF Meets Quneitra Residents
A delegation from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, met several residents and relatives of detainees held in Israeli prisons in Jubata al-Khashab (Quneitra, southern Syria) on Tuesday, April 21.
The meeting focused on residents’ demands and humanitarian concerns, with emphasis on the violations and breaches affecting the population, particularly the detainees’ file, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Quneitra.
The correspondent said residents called for the release of detainees held in prisons run by the Israeli army, clarification of their fate, and an end to violations by Israeli forces in the area bordering the occupied Golan.
UNDOF forces had intensified their presence near the villages of Rafid, Suwaysah, and Sida Golan in southern Quneitra on April 9, in preparation for patrols along the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan.
Residents Demand Detainee Releases and End to Violations
Hussein Saad al-Din, a resident of Jubata al-Khashab, told Enab Baladi that he asked the delegation to secure the release of his son, Saddam, who is only 17 years old and has been detained for more than a year and a half.
He also stressed the need to stop repeated violations against innocent civilians in the ceasefire area and to end harassment of residents, especially in farming and grazing.
Hael al-Abdallah, the mukhtar of Al-Samdaniyah village, told Enab Baladi that the meeting had been repeated more than once with UN delegations, but without result.
He said residents had repeatedly demanded an end to Israeli violations and arrests, the release of detainees, a halt to the bulldozing of agricultural land, and an end to restrictions on cultivated areas.
Most of the families who attended the meeting with the UN delegation had been harmed by the arrest of a family member, including families from Beit Jinn (Rif Dimashq, southern Syria), Jubata al-Khashab, and Ghadir al-Bustan, according to the mukhtar of Al-Samdaniyah.
The meeting came at the request of the UN team, which holds regular meetings in different parts of the province in the presence of district directors. Members of the UN team said their task was to raise these demands and discuss them with higher bodies within UN organizations.
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