Gunmen kidnap child beside his school amid residents' panic 

Anonymous gunmen kidnapped 13-year-old student Mohamed Qais Haidar on Wednesday morning in front of Jamal Dawoud School in al-Mashrou' al-Asher neighborhood on al-Shati' road in Latakia, in full view of passersby and students without anybody's intervention, sparking panic among residents, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

According to eyewitnesses, four masked armed men carried out the kidnapping in broad daylight. The child attempted to resist his kidnappers before they overpowered him and forced him to get into their car, which then fled towards the city.

One witness reported that the gunmen brandished their weapons at a resident when he tried to intervene, prompting him to retreat, fearing for his life.

The incident sparked an unprecedented wave of anxiety among the city's residents, who expressed fear for the safety of their children at the start of the school year, especially after a series of incidents that targeted women and young women in recent months.

This incident comes just days after a similar incident. On October 4, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the loss of contact with a 14-year-old girl in al-Shati' al-Azrak (The Blue Beach) area of ​​Latakia. There are fears that she may have been kidnapped amid the escalating chaos and insecurity across the country, as her fate remains unknown.

J.J