The Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Lebanese in Syria: What Path? What Fate? - Adib Nehmeh
Adib Nehmeh
The Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Lebanese in Syria: What Path? What Fate? - Adib Nehmeh1
Context
The issue of the missing and forcibly disappeared individuals is the most painful and intricate challenge facing post-Assad Syria. While all prisons have been opened, and those who could escape have fled, the fate of an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Syrians (along with individuals of other nationalities) remains unknown. Everyday, mass graves – whether large or small - are discovered across Syrian territory.
Although there are no definitive or near-definitive figures that
reflect the scale of this horrific humanitarian tragedy, yet the nature of this
injustice and the ongoing violation of human rights through illegal detention,
torture, enforced disappearance, and killing, along with the concealment of
remains in unmarked graves, is more horrific than any numerical estimate.
Lebanon holds a share
in this issue. Throughout the years of war and recurring crises since 1975,
Syria and its military presence in Lebanon played direct roles in the Lebanese
civil wars and in other types of conflicts that unfolded on Lebanese soil.
The practices such as
kidnapping and enforced disappearance were prevalent among Lebanese militias as
well as other armed forces operating within Lebanon, including the Syrian
forces and their intelligence agencies and political extensions. It is well
known that the Syrian regime has exercised direct guardianship over political
and public life in Lebanon in an official and recognized manner from 1976 until
the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon in 2005. This means that the
period of direct military Syrian guardianship have lasted about 25 years, although
this does not imply that its influence have ceased after this date. During this
period, the Syrian regime and its military presence in Lebanon engaged in
direct conflicts with the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Palestinian
camps located in Lebanon, along with various Lebanese factions in succession. Consequently,
the Syrian regime and its intelligence agencies became either proactive or
actively involved parties in the acts of kidnapping and enforced disappearance
of the Lebanese citizens and foreign individuals residing in Lebanon, the
majority of whom were likely transferred into Syrian territory where they
subsequently vanished, or in some cases buried within Lebanon itself.
Missing or
Forcibly Disappeared in Syria?
According to the data
circulating in Lebanon, it is estimated that out of a total of 17,000 missing
and forcibly disappeared individuals in Lebanon since 1975, around 700 of them
are believed to be in Syria, or that the previous Syrian authorities bear
responsibility for their disappearance. It is important to note that these
figures are estimates, as despite the passage of 50 years since the start of
the civil war in Lebanon, no official body or any other reliable and
specialized entity has verified these numbers. As for the National Commission
for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, which was established by law in 2018, and
the commission itself was formed in 2020. However, it has not yet been provided
with the actual resources necessary to carry out the mission entrusted to it by
law. Therefore, we continue in Lebanon to adopt these estimates as they are the
only available ones, which should only be replaced based on scientific and
methodical work.
But what are the
possible paths and outcomes for the issue of Lebanese missing and forcibly
disappeared persons (or those who were in Lebanon) for whom the Syrian regime
is likely responsible?
The main
path to uncovering their fate
First, we note that
Syrian prisons have been opened, and there are no longer any detainees, knowing
that there are voices raised from time to time, suggesting that there may still
be secret detention centers or prisons that have not yet been revealed. We do
not have the capacity to confirm or deny this, but the indicators for such a
matter are generally weak. For us as Lebanese, the number of living prisoners
or detainees who returned to Lebanon after the regime's collapse and the
opening of prisons is 14 individuals, and the prevailing opinion is that the
rest are among the missing, who are likely to have been killed and buried in
various locations; it is likely that we will have to deal with this realistic
assumption in the coming months and years.
In this sense, knowing
the fate of the missing Lebanese in Syria, regardless of the reason for their
disappearance or the legal description, will be organically linked to the
process of uncovering the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared Syrians and
others in Syria, to the process of revealing the locations of mass graves, and
to the path of identifying the remains and determining the identities.
Objectively, if we assume there are no political obstacles or political
objection to reveal the fate of these individuals, this is a long and complex
process that might take years, especially since it involves large numbers of
people; it also requires expertise and scientific capabilities that are not
available in Syria. The general political stance in Syria considers this issue
a priority, but in fact, as of the time of writing this article, systematic
measures have not yet been taken to establish the necessary institutional
structures to launch a continuous and systematic search for the fate of the
missing, such as creating a national body for the missing and forcibly
disappeared in Syria, or assigning specific governmental entities to initiate
the search process, or issuing official statements from the highest levels
clarifying the new authorities' plan in this regard, including the formation of
independent national bodies with the participation of the victims’ families
themselves.
The plan should also
include full cooperation between the new official authorities and the relevant
international institution concerned with uncovering the fate of these
individuals, and collaboration with the Lebanese authorities regarding the
Lebanese among them or those who went missing in Lebanon from other
nationalities, for which the Syrian regime is likely responsible. So far, there
is only a declaration of intentions and scattered steps here and there that do
not constitute a complete path yet.
The logical and
realistic course for us as Lebanese is to recognize the connection between
uncovering the fate of the Lebanese and those who went missing in Lebanon with
the Syrian national process of collecting data and information from various
sources and analyzing what may indicate the fate of both Syrians and Lebanese
together, as well as the Syrian national process of revealing mass graves and
identifying the remains. We should expect that this matter will take a long
time based on what we know from similar experiences in other countries around
the world that have faced similar tragedies and experiences.
Two Complementary
Paths
The aforementioned is
the general and most important pathway. However, there is a window for certain
specific cases that can be used to uncover the fate of at least some of these
individuals. In some specific instances, there have been cases of individual or
mass burials within Lebanese territory, due to the presence and control of the
Syrian army and Syrian security agencies over the land in Lebanon.
Consequently, and
during certain military or security operations in which Syrian forces or Syrian
security agencies were involved, there were incidents of abduction, enforced
disappearance, or detention of the victims’ bodies who were buried in locations
within Lebanese territory known to Syrian officials, who also have details
about the numbers and identities... Some of these have been discovered in
previous years (for example, a cemetery for military personnel at the Lebanese
Ministry of Defense), while others can be identified if investigations are
conducted with some Syrian security or political officials who were in Lebanon
and are now in the custody of the new authorities. In this regard, two
complementary parallel pathways are necessary:
- The first path is the
exhumation of graves that may have been established by the Syrian army or
security agencies within Lebanese territory, for which information has been
provided by Lebanese entities, after the political barrier that previously
prevented this has been removed, following the fall of the Assad regime;
- The second path
involves high-level communication with the Syrian authorities to extract
information from Syrian security and political officials who were in Lebanon
and were aware of abduction, detention, or burial operations within Lebanese
territory.
These two pathways
complement the main pathway, which is that knowing the fate of all the missing
persons is undoubtedly part of the process of resolving the issue of the
missing in Syria itself.
What about
the missing and forcibly disappeared individuals in Lebanon?
Now that we have addressed the issue of the missing and forcibly disappeared in Syria, we must not overlook the more significant problem: the overwhelming majority of the missing and forcibly disappeared in Lebanon are those who were lost or forcibly disappeared at the hands of warring Lebanese factions since 1975. The effort to uncover their fate is also a priority for the integrity of national unity and the Lebanese community. This task is undoubtedly more complex than that concerning the missing in Syria, as it involves Lebanese parties that are now under greater pressure to disclose what they know about the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared in Lebanon, regardless of their fate. We also note that this process and this national responsibility encompass those who went missing in Lebanon of all nationalities without discrimination, including Palestinians and Syrians who disappeared in Lebanon. All of these individuals are included in the responsibility of revealing their fate.
