Interpol cancels Assad-era alert on 24,511 Syrian passports

Interpol has cancelled an Assad-era international alert that listed more than 24,500 Syrian passports as stolen, after Syrian authorities said the documents had in fact been legally issued to their owners.

Syria's interior ministry said the International Criminal Police Organisation had withdrawn the 2024 alert covering 24,511 passports following coordination between Interpol and its Damascus branch.

Colonel Abdul Rahim Jabara, director of international cooperation at the ministry, said the former regime of Bashar al-Assad had asked for the passports to be listed as stolen in November 2024, after opposition forces seized Aleppo.

According to Jabara, the Assad government claimed the passports had been stolen from an immigration and passports centre in the northern city.

The documents had instead been issued through official procedures and handed to their legitimate holders, he said.

The alert subsequently resulted in some Syrians being detained abroad and having their passports confiscated, disrupting their ability to travel.

The ministry did not specify how many passport holders had been affected, which countries had detained them, or whether all confiscated documents have since been returned.

It said the alert was cancelled after communication with Interpol established that it had been based on inaccurate information.

The Syrian government has not said why the Assad regime reported the passports as stolen despite their having allegedly already been issued, though it is widely believed to have been a means to punish Syrians living in opposition areas.

The request came during the dramatic collapse of Assad's control over northern Syria.

Opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a surprise offensive in late November 2024 and entered Aleppo on 29 November, forcing pro-regime forces from the city shortly afterwards.

The offensive rapidly spread south, culminating in the capture of Damascus and Assad's flight from Syria on 8 December.

Interpol maintains a global database containing information on travel and identity documents reported by member states as stolen, lost, revoked or invalid.

Police and border authorities around the world can check passports against the database at airports and border crossings, meaning a passport recorded as stolen can trigger its seizure and prevent its holder from travelling.

Only the country that issued a travel document can submit it to Interpol's stolen and lost travel documents database through its national authorities.

Interpol says the system contains around 138 million records and was searched billions of times by law enforcement agencies worldwide in 2023.

The cancellation therefore removes an international flag that Syrian authorities say had wrongly affected thousands of otherwise legitimate documents.

The episode also highlights the continuing administrative consequences of decisions taken during the final weeks of Assad's rule, almost two years after his government was overthrown.

Syria's new authorities have been working to restore the country's relations with international institutions and reassess administrative and security measures inherited from the former government.

Jabara said the cancellation followed sustained work by Syria's international cooperation department and Interpol office in Damascus.

The interior ministry said the process ultimately established that the original report concerning the passports was incorrect and based on inaccurate information.