Forty-six Syrians remain detained in Israeli jails after they were arrested at various moments after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.
Israel released four Syrians in July after more than a year in detention. They were arrested during Israeli incursions into Syria.
One of the relatives of the released told Asharq Al-Awsat that the majority of the detainees don’t even know why they were being apprehended. They were not interrogated throughout their detention.
He revealed that they were not assaulted by their Israeli captors during their imprisonment. Rather, they were fed three times a day and were allowed a change of clothes as well.
Israel began carrying out incursions into neighboring Syrian territories in Quneitra and Daraa after the collapse of the Assad regime and after Tel Aviv declared it was no longer complying with the 1974 disengagement agreement.
It has set up ten advanced military positions in Syrian territories and carried out numerous incursions, raids of houses and arrests of civilians.
The Syrian Sijil Center that keeps track of arrests, revealed that Israeli forces have arrested at least 187 people since 2024. The majority have been released.
Ahmed al-Moussa, a Syrian lawyer who has been tracking the detentions, said international law describes these arrests as enforced disappearance.
He told Asharq al-Awsat that 46 Syrians remains forcibly disappeared in Israeli jails.
The lawyer has documented the arrests to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
Mahmoud al-Sayyed, a resident of Quneitra’s Khan Arnaba, was detained along with his son and brother on November 15, 2025.
His son was released the next day, while he and his brother were held in the Sde Teiman detention camp until their release on January 19, 2026.
Al-Sayyed told Asharq Al-Awsat that he was likely arrested after informants working for Israel gave them false information about him.
He was instigated once during his detention during which the information was revealed to be false and he and his brother were soon released, he explained.
He said that he was never assaulted during his arrest and allowed to perform daily prayers and read the holy Quran. He was held with some 16 other people.
Israel often carried outs raids and arrests in search of suspected members of armed groups that it views as a threat to its security.
