Group of young women abducted in Latakia, released near Lebanese Border

A young woman from the Alawite community, who disappeared two days earlier while heading toward the Al-Ziraa neighborhood in Latakia city, was found alive. It was later revealed that she had been among a group of young women and men abducted by unidentified gangs and subsequently released in a remote border area between Syria and Lebanon.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the kidnappers freed four young women and one man, in addition to the victim, after holding them in an unknown location.

The survivor recounted that she lost consciousness after one of the perpetrators placed a cloth over her face near Bint al-Shawish Street in Al-Ziraa. When she regained consciousness, she found herself in an abandoned room with several others. They were later transported to a border area and abandoned there, managing to contact their families with the help of travelers heading toward Lebanon.

The young woman’s family managed to bring her home with the assistance of a local resident. However, the fate of the other abducted girls remains unknown, amid the absence of confirmed information about their identities or whereabouts.

This incident has heightened public fears in rural Latakia, where criminal networks are reportedly luring women and girls for undisclosed purposes, reflecting the deepening security vacuum and lawlessness within territories controlled by Syria’s Transitional Government.

A similar case was reported on October 12, when unidentified assailants attempted to abduct a schoolteacher on the northern ring road in the Damsarkho area of Latakia. She narrowly escaped with the help of a local young man.

a.k

ANHA