Syrians suspend schools over security situation, child abductions

Following repeated incidents and ongoing violations—most recently the killing of a female teacher in front of her school and the abduction of a child outside his school, in addition to the assault of a university student in Daraa and the killing of another in Douma—residents in villages across the coastal region, Homs, and Hama carried out a strike, refraining from sending their children to schools and universities.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that activists in Latakia, Tartus, and Homs called for a general strike on Thursday, which included closing shops and withholding children from schools. This action was in protest of what they described as the rising incidents of murder, kidnapping, repression, and humanitarian suffering affecting residents in several neighborhoods amid widespread security deterioration.

According to the SOHR, the authorities of the Syrian transitional government, through affiliated groups, sent threats today to the parents of students and teachers in response to the ongoing strike.

The SOHR also documented, on Wednesday, a rising state of tension and public anger in Latakia following the abduction of the child Muhammad Qais Hayd. It noted that such alarming incidents are increasing, particularly in cities under the control of the Syrian transitional government, amid fears that the phenomenon of abductions may escalate in the absence of effective security measures.

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ANHA