Syrian orphanage chief arrested in probe over children of disappeared detainees: report

Syrian authorities have reportedly arrested Bara'a Al-Ayoubi, the director of Dar al-Rahma (House of Mercy) Orphanage in Damascus, amid an ongoing investigation into the fate of hundreds of children taken from detained parents and placed in state-run institutions, the Syrian news outlet Zaman al-Wasl said on Wednesday.

The children's parents were forcibly disappeared into the Assad regime’s prison system, with no information about their fate.

The true identities and family ties of many of the children remain unknown.

On Tuesday, Samer Qurabi, spokesperson for Syria’s Committee for Monitoring the Fate of Children of Detainees and the Disappeared, said the group was investigating the cases of 413 children currently in orphanages and was considering DNA testing to determine their identities.

Earlier this week, Syrian authorities also arrested two former ministers of social affairs, Kinda Shammat and Rima al-Qadiri, who both served under the Assad regime.

Several other individuals connected to orphanage operations have also reportedly been detained.

Al-Ayoubi previously admitted that her orphanage had received 100 children whose parents had been detained by Assad's security forces. She claimed she was prohibited by those forces from disclosing the children's identities.

In an interview aired in January by Turkish broadcaster TRT, Al-Ayoubi described how security agents regularly brought children to the orphanage between 2015 and 2024.

"A patrol used to come to us and hand over a group of children - one child, two, four. They could have been siblings or from different families. They would bring them to us with an official document, issued by a security branch," she said.

She added that she was not allowed to question the process or engage with security agencies, and that when families approached the orphanage asking about their children, she would direct them to contact the relevant ministry.

Al-Ayoubi said she did not feel remorse over potentially separating children from their families.

"Maybe God sent them to this place so they can have what they need of upbringing, morals, and respect," she told TRT.

However, testimonies from orphans who grew up in Dar al-Rahma have recently come forward with accounts of "systematic violence" at the facility.

One girl, who lived in the orphanage for nine years starting in 2013, told Zaman al-Wasl that she and others were subjected to physical and psychological abuse by staff members. She said Al-Ayoubi was aware of the mistreatment.

"We were beaten, threatened, humiliated, and locked in rooms daily," she said.