“Rights Monitor,” on Sunday, 12 January 2026, obtained a preliminary list containing the names of 272 missing persons from among the residents of the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, of predominantly Kurdish population, in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, following security and military events that the two neighborhoods witnessed during the past days.
This list comes within the context of consistent and serious information regarding which Rights Monitor had previously expressed its deep concern, about the commission of grave violations against Kurdish civilians and fighters in the two neighborhoods, by armed groups affiliated with the temporary authority represented by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, as part of a wide-scale military and security campaign.
The Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood witnessed, on Saturday, 10 January 2026, a notable military escalation coinciding with intense shelling, followed by the implementation of a wide-scale arrest campaign that affected hundreds of civilians, particularly men from among the neighborhood’s residents, carried out by forces affiliated with the temporary authority. The repercussions of these operations also affected the adjacent Ashrafieh neighborhood, where the disappearance of a large number of persons was recorded under similar circumstances.
Available data indicate that the majority of the missing persons are Kurdish civilians residing in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, with no confirmed information to date regarding their fate or places of detention, in the absence of any known legal procedures or official announcements related to their situations.
Rights Monitor had previously documented visual materials, most of which were published by armed groups affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, showing the commission of grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights against Kurdish civilians in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, including:
Extrajudicial killings and field executions.
Arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment without any known legal procedures.
Humiliating and degrading practices violating human dignity against the living and the dead.
Mutilation of the bodies of victims, in a flagrant violation of the principle of respect for the dead stipulated in the Geneva Conventions.
In parallel with these developments, local sources reported that independent journalists were prevented from entering the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to cover the events, while journalists loyal to the temporary authority were allowed to be present and convey a single narrative, which constitutes a violation of press freedom and the public’s right to access information.
Rights Monitor affirms that this list is preliminary and subject to updating, in light of the continued inability to gain independent field access to the two neighborhoods, and the ongoing state of concern regarding the fate of the missing persons, accompanied by serious fears for their lives and safety.
