A year after Assad’s fall, arbitrary arrests cast a shadow over northeastern Syria

DAMASCUS — A few weeks after Assad fell on December 8, 2024, Khalil al-Ahmad (a pseudonym) traveled from Syria’s northeastern Raqqa city to Damascus for the first time in his life. He had been wanted by the regime, making the trip impossible before last year’s 11-day lightning offensive by opposition forces changed everything.

Al-Ahmad was in the capital attending to a family matter, but was soon swept up in celebrations that continued in Damascus for weeks after the regime collapsed. “I celebrated like any Syrian—it marked the end of 50 years of oppression,” he told Syria Direct. “Honestly, I don’t understand what the problem with that is.”

While in Damascus, al-Ahmad was filmed participating in street celebrations in a video that was posted online. When he returned to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)-held Raqqa, a city on edge and under curfew, in early January, he was quickly arrested.

When he was questioned, after 24 hours in solitary confinement, his interrogator “asked why I went to Damascus,” al-Ahmad recalled. His explanation, that he was in the capital for family reasons, did not change his circumstances. He would be held—with no formal charges or court date—for the next three months.

With the fall of Assad one year ago, the number of arbitrary arrests—long a feature of the regime’s repressive apparatus—fell sharply in most parts of Syria. In parts of northeastern Syria controlled by the SDF, particularly Raqqa and Deir e-Zor provinces, the number increased. 

Al-Ahmad, a nonprofit worker in his 30s who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, is one of hundreds of people who have been arbitrarily detained in SDF-controlled areas over the past year, including on political grounds, according to human rights monitors. 

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented nearly 800 arbitrary arrests across northeastern Syria in the year since December 2024, including 87 children and eight women, the monitor told Syria Direct. The previous year saw around 600 arrests.

In a statement to Syria Direct, SNHR highlighted arrests “for criticizing the practices of [SDF] forces” or “supporting the new Syrian government,” as well as detentions related to conscription.

“There have been arrests due to celebrations of all kinds, from the fall of the Assad regime to the March 10 [integration] agreement to the lifting of US sanctions,” Asyad Almousa, founder and head of the Raqqa Human Rights Observatory, told Syria Direct. “People have also been arrested for raising the free Syrian flag, or merely having a picture of it on their phone.” 

Continued arrests fuel discontent in Arab-majority areas held by the SDF, while progress towards integrating northeastern Syria into the state remains sluggish or stalled despite a swiftly approaching end-of-year deadline to implement the March agreement. 

The SDF describes its security operations and arrests as aimed at Islamic State (IS) affiliates, criminal networks and others who undermine local security. 

Since its 2019 territorial defeat, IS has waged an insurgency against the SDF, with an uptick in attacks reported since the fall of the regime. However, Raqqa residents Syria Direct spoke to earlier this year described the charge of IS affiliation as “a ready-made accusation that can be pinned on anyone.” 

“The SDF uses the same accusations as the former regime, such as terrorism or collusion with external entities, as well as working against the [SDF-backed] Autonomous Administration [AANES] or denouncing Öcalan,” Almousa said. Abdullah Öcalan is the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, alleged to be an integral part of the SDF.

Syria Direct reached out to the SDF press office multiple times during the course of this reporting, but received no response by the time of publication. 

‘Harsh humanitarian conditions’

During the three months al-Ahmad spent in SDF detention, he was held in a roughly 30-square-meter room with 15 other prisoners, he said, including a 14-year-old, a 23-year-old with a developmental disorder and a 70-year-old. 

While imprisoned, al-Ahmad said he saw guards hit some of the other prisoners, while his own health declined due to poor treatment and unsanitary conditions. “They gave us water from the toilets and we got urinary infections,” he added. “We were forced to stand for 12 hours at a time and forbidden to sit—I left prison with a displaced disk.” Months later, he still struggles to walk properly and suffers from the infection he contracted. 

“SDF detention centers are experiencing extremely harsh humanitarian conditions,” SNHR noted. Over the past year, the organization has documented “numerous cases of torture victims…as a result of ill-treatment and torture, whether through severe beatings, sleep deprivation, or prolonged solitary confinement.” The organization documented two in-custody torture deaths in November 2025. 

Eventually, al-Ahmad was taken for another interrogation. This time, he said what he believed those questioning him wanted to hear. “I was lucky—to be released, I said the new government is IS,” he said. 

Over the days that followed, al-Ahmad and his wife were regularly tailed by a car he suspected belonged to the local security forces. In April, afraid he would be detained again, he left his family and fled to an area controlled by the Syrian government.

“There were significantly fewer arrests in 2024, before the liberation, because people were silent,” Almousa said. “The largest segment of those who are arrested are youth between 15 and 25 years of age, because they are the most eager to express their political opinions.”

Saddam al-Kwaydir, 21, was one of them. A nursing student and construction worker in Raqqa, he was arrested shortly after participating in a celebration of the March 10 integration agreement, a family member who asked not to be identified told Syria Direct. 

“The Internal Security Forces [Asayish] kidnapped him at 8 o’clock at night, and we did not know where he was for two months,” the relative said. After five months in detention, al-Kwaydir was brought before the Autonomous Administration’s terrorism court and given a three-year sentence for charges including insulting Öcalan. 

“They wouldn’t let us see his case or give us any details until it was too late,” the relative said. “The Asayish only let us open his file, which said he had walked over Öcalan’s face—something they said they should cut his legs off for.”  

Al-Kwaydir’s case is not an outlier, SNHR said. “These long and varying periods of detention—from a few days to around eight years—in the absence of fair trials and legal safeguards, reflect a tragic reality that lacks the most basic standards of justice and fundamental rights, where individuals are detained without trial or on the basis of unproven accusations or malicious reports.”

“There are no promises for him to be released before three years,” al-Kwaydir’s relative added. “There are preparations for war, they’re digging tunnels—they’re not preparing to release anyone.” 

‘Iron fist’ approach

While arbitrary arrests are not a new development, the SDF has clamped down harder since Assad fell last year, Khaled Abu Salah, a journalist and researcher who focuses on the area, told Syria Direct. “These campaigns are more about political intimidation than anything else—they’re intended to make people understand that the situation has not changed since the fall,” he said. 

Before Assad fell, many Arabs living in northeastern Syria’s Jazira region considered the Kurdish-led SDF to be the lesser of two evils, compared to the Assad regime, Almousa of the Raqqa Human Rights Observatory said. But since December 8, many have strived to be governed by the new Syrian government, which they feel better represents them. 

Raqqa and Deir e-Zor provinces have both long experienced marginalization and underdevelopment, both historically under the Assad regime and more recently under the SDF. 

“It’s hard to determine what percentage of these arrests stem from genuine security concerns as opposed to political considerations given the opaqueness at which they occur,” Alexander McKeever, a researcher who focuses on northern Syria, told Syria Direct. 

“Both the IS insurgency and a wide range of unclaimed attacks have targeted the SDF and Asayish in these areas over the course of the year, so from the SDF perspective at least some of these arrests likely stem from counterinsurgency,” he added. 

The SDF and some analysts point to a steady uptick in IS attacks since the start of the year, after an initial lull when the US-led anti-IS coalition carried out a campaign of airstrikes against it after the regime fell. 

“That being said, the fall of the former regime upset the status quo on which the SDF relied, and initially sparked political unrest and defections from SDF ranks in Raqqa and Deir e-Zor,” McKeever added. “The frequency of local reports of politically motivated arrests and the uncertainty which SDF rule in these areas face following the fall of Assad give credence to the allegations.”

Journalist Abu Salah tied what he termed the SDF’s “iron fist” approach to the course of sluggish negotiations between SDF and Damascus to implement the March 10 integration agreement. “The SDF considers that if it relaxes its control, the region might rebel entirely, and it doesn’t want this in the context of negotiations with the government, as its position would be weakened,” he said.  

While the issue of arrests is unlikely to directly arise during the negotiations, there should be pressure on both the SDF and Damascus to make it a core issue, Abu Salah added. “The people of Jazira must pressure Damascus to prioritize arrests,” he said, noting that Kurds have also faced repression. 

Anti-SDF protests have been held across government-controlled parts of Syria every Friday over the past two months, McKeever noted. 

“The people finished from a 54-year-old regime…however, until now the people of the Jazira region have not experienced this joy,” Abu Salah said.