The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) issued its 14th annual report on enforced disappearance in Syria on 30 August, following the evacuation of prisons and security centers belonging to the regime of deposed president Bashar al-Assad.
According to the report, only a limited number of detainees emerged alive, while the fate of tens of thousands remains unknown. The report documents how the former regime has, since 2011, pursued a systematic policy of enforced disappearance targeting opponents and civilians from various areas, using its security and judicial apparatus to entrench a climate of fear and collective punishment.
SNHR’s database indicates that the former Syrian regime is responsible for more than 90 percent of disappearance cases, which are tied to arbitrary arrest, torture, and denial of fair trial guarantees, and have left families of victims facing long-term suffering.
According to updated data compiled after the fall of the regime, the number of victims of enforced disappearance has shifted as some detainees previously classified as missing were released, and as documentation has expanded and evidence has been strengthened.
The report states that no fewer than 181,312 people, including thousands of women and children, remained in arbitrary detention or enforced disappearance as of August 2025, among them 160,123 individuals previously held by former regime agencies, with the rest distributed across detention centers that had belonged to other parties.