Al-Bawsala – The announcement of the recovery of a Jordanian who was kidnapped in Syria has brought the file of the Jordanian kidnapped in Damascus back to the fore again, as the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been recording dozens of cases of citizens who went missing there for years, and some of them were recovered and released, while the fate of others is still unknown.

According to the Jordanian authorities, most of them were subjected to kidnappings inside areas under the control of the Syrian regime and by unknown parties, while others were arrested by the Syrian authorities for unknown reasons, in addition to rare cases carried out by Syrian factions.

Since the announcement of the opening of the border crossing between Amman and Damascus in 2018, hundreds of Jordanians have been heading to the Syrian lands for the purpose of tourism and recreation, despite official warnings of the seriousness of the security situation there.

Kidnapping for ransom

The kidnapping of the 60-year-old Jordanian citizen, Walid Qutaish, in Syria was one of dozens of kidnappings for ransom that Jordanians heading to Damascus are subjected to.

Yazan Qutaish, the kidnapped’s son, says that his father was kidnapped after he went to Damascus for tourism on December 26, and that his family received a call from the kidnappers, demanding that they pay a ransom of $140,000 in exchange for his release.

Since the first days of reopening the crossing between the two countries, two Jordanians have been kidnapped in Syria. The father of one of the kidnapped, who works as a truck driver, received a call from unknown persons asking for a ransom for the release of their kidnapped son.

Two weeks later, a Jordanian couple went missing inside Syria after entering for the purpose of tourism, only to discover that they were detained in the prisons of the Syrian regime on charges of filming in military areas.

Letters to Jordan

The expert on Syrian affairs, Salah Malkawi, expects that kidnappings targeting Jordanians will increase in the coming period, warning citizens of the danger of going to Syria.

Malkawi added, “The Syrian regime seeks to create chaos and perpetuate it in the coming period as a message to the inside and outside, especially in the southern region of Syria adjacent to the Jordanian border.”

The Jordanian expert talks about clear and expected targeting of Jordan, especially with the entry into force of the “Captagon” law, which “was approved by the US House of Representatives to disrupt and dismantle drug production and trafficking networks linked to the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad.”

Malkawi points out that Maher al-Assad and the Fourth Division control most of the crossings, including the Nassib-Jaber crossing with Jordan, and despite the good and balanced official Jordanian position on the crisis in Syria, Malkawi says that Damascus used to send messages indirectly and through its arms to Jordan, and it may be Kidnappings or arrests are among these messages.

The Jordanian-Syrian relations reached the point of rupture in 2014, and the Syrian ambassador to Amman at the time, Bahjat Suleiman, was expelled.

File of detainees

The Jordanian government estimates the number of detainees in Syria at about 55 citizens, most of whom were arrested after entering through the Jaber-Nassib crossing. Since 2021, the government’s efforts have succeeded in releasing only eight people who were in Syrian prisons.

In addition to the efforts made by the Jordanian government to release the abductees, Jordanian political and parliamentary figures have good relations with leaders in the Syrian regime, led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and this relationship is exploited to release dozens of abductees or detainees.

Two years ago, a Jordanian parliamentary delegation visited the Syrian capital, Damascus, and handed Syrian officials a list of names of Jordanian detainees, half of whom were arrested before the border crossing with Jordan was opened.

This file constitutes a headache for the Jordanian government and an obstacle to easing tension in its relationship with the Syrian side, amid pressure from the detainees’ families to take legal and diplomatic measures.

Observers believe that most of the detainees were detained for reasons related to anti-Syrian regime positions, without excluding the existence of criminal detention cases. Among the most prominent Jordanian detainees in Syria is the photojournalist Amir Gharaibeh, who left for Damascus for tourism years ago and was arrested on his return to Jordan.

Contrary to government estimates, official estimates indicate that the number of Jordanian detainees in the Syrian regime’s prisons is close to 400.

The Chargé d’Affaires of the Syrian regime’s embassy in Jordan, Shafiq Dayoub, said in press statements that his country’s authorities had released about 107 Jordanian detainees, and very few detainees, not exceeding 30, remained in Syria.

Arabic Independent