On November 15, 2025, the Kurdish brothers Avan Miro and Abdulmutalib Miro — both university students from the city of al-Malikiyah “Dêrik” — were arrested while heading to register their documents at Damascus University.
According to their family’s account, they were traveling on a bus belonging to the Izla company when a security checkpoint in the Maadan area on the Raqqa–Damascus road stopped them. The checkpoint belongs to the Sultan Murad Division, a faction that joined the New Syrian Army formed by the Syrian Interim Authorities “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.”
According to the account, the checkpoint personnel confiscated the brothers’ phones, which contained photos and songs related to the Syrian Democratic Forces, then took them to an unknown location. The family has not received any information about them and appealed to the relevant authorities to reveal the fate of the two brothers and the place of their detention.
This incident comes at a time when the interim authorities are tightening their grip on the regions of North and East Syria and imposing restrictions on travelers, especially on the Raqqa–Athriya–Homs road, which is the link between the regions of North and East Syria and the capital, Damascus. Meanwhile, citizens resort to the Deir ez-Zor–Palmyra–Damascus road, one of the dangerous routes where ISIS remains active in those areas.
