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Alawite Woman’s Testimony: Escaping Rape and Sale by a Prince in Idlib
Alawite communities in Syria are living in a state of fear and terror, due to the rising wave of kidnapping operations and the detention of women and girls as slaves or sexual servants by militias allied with the regime and jihadist cells. Amid ongoing retaliatory acts and sectarian conflicts, human rights activists indicate that the number of kidnapped women and girls ranges between 50 and 60, although the actual figures could be much higher, especially with persistent sectarian violence and escalating killings and executions.
Among these harrowing stories, Samira, a 23-year-old Alawite girl, recounts her bitter experience after being kidnapped, gang-raped, and then sold into forced marriage. Samira, who used a translator to communicate via WhatsApp, describes how she was lured during a visit to Homs, abducted by masked gunmen, and held in an incomplete house where she was subjected to violent rape and ongoing threats.
She describes moments of terror, from her attempts to resist, to repeated assaults, and insulting comments directed at her with sectarian phrases such as “immoral slut” and “Nusayri whore.” She also recalls being forced to scream during torture and rape sessions, and how she was ultimately rescued by an elderly man known as “The Prince,” who paid a large ransom and used his influence and wealth to buy her freedom.
Her testimony reveals the existence of interconnected networks extending among jihadists, smuggling rings, and criminal gangs that trade in human beings, taking women and girls as slaves and employing oppressive and humiliating methods. Her story includes painful scenes of gang rape, torture, and some documented executions by activists.
Reports confirm that many missing women, including minors, remain in the grip of these networks, and that kidnapping operations continue despite attempts by the Syrian authorities to downplay the crisis. Women’s rights advocates like Inana Berkat point out that hundreds of Arab families, especially Alawite ones, live in constant fear of losing their daughters and husbands, and of the potential for them to be enslaved or killed.
This scene is reiterated through other stories where women and mothers disappear after hospital visits or while waiting for transportation, with no news of them, heightening families’ suffering and reflecting an increase in criminal activities by extremist groups and gangs.
It is worth noting that ISIS, during its brief rule, practiced openly enslaving Yazidi and Christian women and girls before the current scene unfolded, where similar enslaving practices are recurring. There are also suspicions that some government-leaning militias are involved in exploiting women and girls sexually or dividing their fighters and members for such purposes.
Amid ongoing chaos, kidnapping operations continue, and government investigations remain sluggish or indifferent, with false justifications. Armed groups, whether allied or extremist, show no respect for justice mechanisms, highlighting the need for effective international intervention to protect civilians. Syria has become an open arena for ongoing crimes, with no security structures capable of safeguarding the victims, and fear remaining the dominant reality for Alawites living in conflict zones.
