On 11 December 2025, the arrest of Dr. Samer Issa, a civilian pediatrician from the village of Baabda in the Jableh countryside and a member of the Alawite community, was documented. Elements of the General Security apparatus affiliated with the interim authority “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” detained him last week inside Jableh National Hospital in Latakia Province, western Syria, while he was practicing his work in the pediatric clinic, without any formal notification.
Dr. Samer Issa is known for his good professional record and his positive rapport with families and patients. He works at the public hospital in addition to his private clinic. No charges related to his work or public activity had ever been brought against him.
The arrest was carried out suddenly and during official working hours, in front of patients, as a group from the General Security apparatus took him to an unknown location without presenting an arrest warrant or giving any opportunity to contact his family or a lawyer. A colleague of his stated in a video published on her account on 11 December 2025 that the arrest took place arbitrarily and outside legal frameworks.
According to information circulated by people close to the victim, his family was later informed that the reason for the arrest was a comment the doctor had written on the Facebook platform.
This incident comes amid a noticeable rise in arbitrary arrests and detentions in various areas of the Syrian coast, where families of many detainees complain about the lack of official information regarding the whereabouts of their relatives or the reasons for their arrest—heightening concerns about the expansion of violations related to freedom of expression and restrictions on civic activity.
This case falls within a continuing pattern of harassing citizens over their opinions or comments on social media, constituting a clear violation of basic human rights standards and due legal process.
