Abducted at Dawn: The Unanswered Fate of Qadam’s Missing Men
In Damascus’s Qadam district, a neighborhood long known for its working-class migrants from Syria’s Alawite coast became, in the early hours of 7 March 2025, the scene of a terrifying campaign. Armed men moved from house to house in al-Bawwaba—also known as al-Anaza—abducting residents, looting homes and leaving families trapped between sectarian threats, official denials and a year of agonizing uncertainty. What unfolded there was not an isolated episode. It formed part of a broader pattern of violence, disappearance and intimidation that has haunted Syria’s Alawite community since the fall of the Assad regime.
Al-Anaza: A Community in the Crosshairs
Al-Bawwaba, or al-Anaza, is home to generations of Alawites who migrated from the coastal village of al-Anaza in Tartus governorate in search of work. Over time, the neighborhood grew to include Alawites from other villages as well as residents from different sects and regions.
By the night of 6 March and into the morning of 7 March 2025, massacres along the coast had already begun. The outlines of a catastrophe were emerging: attacks on Alawite villages and neighborhoods by fighters operating under the interim government’s military command, formed after the fall of the regime and the dissolution of the former army. These forces acted alongside members of the newly created General Security apparatus under the Ministry of Interior, as well as thousands of civilians who responded to a general call to arms.
Residents of al-Anaza described how armed groups stormed homes, looted valuables and detained men solely on the basis of their sectarian identity. One woman recounted how the attackers moved systematically through the neighborhood, breaking down doors when families refused to open them and climbing through windows when they could not force their way inside.
She said the second raid swept up the remaining young men—twenty in total—bringing the number of abducted or forcibly disappeared to twenty-three. They were Syrian citizens taken without judicial warrants and without any clear charges. Most were civilians: four students, nine government employees, two retirees and two soldiers undergoing “settlement” procedures. Among them were a doctor, a teacher and a young man with special needs named Samer Mohammad Asaad. One detainee, Alaa al-Hafi, was released the next morning after the attackers said they had mistaken him for an Alawite.
Another family described how armed men tore down their door, claiming to be from General Security. They took Dr. Ahmad Ali Saleh and his brother Haytham after stealing the family’s gold, money, mobile phones and the doctor’s car. Elsewhere, seventy-six-year-old Hussein Wajih Shaddoud was beaten severely during his arrest. His son Ali, a supermarket employee, was also taken. A second son, who has cerebral palsy, was left behind.
A Year of Silence and Psychological Torment
In the days that followed, families were told the detainees were being held at the Hijaz railway station. When women from the neighborhood went there at 8 a.m. to ask, soldiers at the gate denied that anyone was being held inside.
Rumors then began to spread. Some said the men were in the custody of Islamist factions. Others claimed they were being held by General Security. A third rumor suggested clashes had erupted between the two sides, that some detainees had been freed and others killed. No one could verify any of it. Were the men in Harem prison, al-Rai, Adra, al-Nabk or Homs Central Prison?
Three days after the attack, photographs of four of the abducted men surfaced at a police station. One of them, Rabeea Aqel, appeared lying on a bed with one eye bandaged, even though authorities had repeatedly denied holding any of the missing men.
Families searched every security branch in Damascus. After an entire year, the fate of the detainees remains unknown. Are they alive, or have they been killed?
Pressure on Those Who Remain
Meanwhile, pressure on the remaining Alawite residents of Qadam has continued. Harassment, intimidation and manufactured disputes have pushed many to leave their homes and return to their villages. Some Alawite women have begun wearing the hijab in public spaces—at work, school or while shopping—believing it may offer a measure of protection in an increasingly hostile environment.
This story is not only an account of what happened in one Damascus neighborhood. It reflects a broader suffering in which human beings are reduced to unknown numbers in a landscape of violence, competing narratives and distant justice. What happened in Qadam is part of a wider pattern of abuses endured by Alawites after the fall of the Assad regime—abuses that have received little attention and have not entered public debate or accountability.
Between arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, abductions, killings, workplace dismissals and the constant pressure on those who remain in their neighborhoods, a bleak picture emerges of an ongoing tragedy that remains largely unseen.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
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