I would scream in my sleep: Women from Syria's Alawite minority tell of kidnap and rape

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship in Syria in December 2024, dozens of Alawite women have reportedly been kidnapped, with the Syrian Feminist Lobby confirming at least 26 cases. These kidnappings and disappearances occurred between February 2025 and early December, both before and after a wave of sectarian violence in the west of the country that killed over 1,400 people, mostly Alawite civilians. Two Alawite women shared accounts of abduction and assault with the BBC, and families of three others did as well. Victims report that the interim government's General Security Service has failed to properly investigate these crimes, with one woman stating officers mocked her when she reported her ordeal. While the interior ministry claims most reported kidnappings are false, a security source confirmed that some kidnappings, including those involving security service members, have occurred.

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