Residents and relatives of Syrians detained in Israeli prisons held a protest outside the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) headquarters in Quneitra governorate (southwestern Syria) on Friday, November 13.

Participants demanded information about their loved ones’ fate and called for their release, amid a lack of clear information about their conditions and places of detention.

Enab Baladi attended the protest and heard the families’ demands and accounts from several participants about the circumstances of their relatives’ arrests and their efforts to obtain information from UN bodies and government authorities, without receiving clear answers so far.

The wife of detainee Mohammed Okasha, from Beit Jinn (Damascus countryside, southwestern Syria), said Israeli occupation forces arrested her husband on November 28, 2025, during a military operation in the town that involved clashes and left several residents dead.

She told Enab Baladi that Israeli forces took her husband away handcuffed, barefoot and wearing his pajamas. She said he was arrested unexpectedly alongside his brother, who was released after seven months in detention.

She explained that, after her brother-in-law’s release, she asked him where her husband was being held. He said he had not seen him since their arrest. The family has also been unable to establish his fate by asking other people released from Israeli prisons.

She said her husband has a disability affecting his right foot as a result of an injury sustained during the Syrian revolution. She denied Israeli accusations that he belonged to Lebanon’s Hezbollah or the Palestinian movement Hamas, saying he had not participated in any “terrorist” acts.

According to Okasha’s wife, nearly a year has passed since his arrest without the family receiving information about his whereabouts or condition. She added that the families are demanding the release of 39 detainees whose fate remains unknown to their relatives.

She said the protest outside UNDOF headquarters was part of a series of actions the families have organized to bring their demands to the international community’s attention. They previously held protests outside the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry’s armistice office and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

She called on the Syrian government to act and pressure Israel to release the detainees and disclose their fate, saying their continued detention without information about their conditions compounds their families’ suffering

Relatives of detainees protest outside the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) headquarters in Quneitra, November 13, 2026 (Enab Baladi/Abdullah al-Wanny)

Relatives of detainees protest outside the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) headquarters in Quneitra, November 13, 2026 (Enab Baladi/Abdullah al-Wanny)

Relatives of detainees protest outside the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) headquarters in Quneitra, November 13, 2026 (Enab Baladi/Abdullah al-Wanny)

Families Seek Results From UN Meetings and Promises

Hassan Saad al-Din, the father of detainee Saddam Saad al-Din, told Enab Baladi that the protest sought answers about the results of meetings and promises the families had received from the United Nations concerning efforts to establish the fate of their detained and abducted loved ones.

Saad al-Din said the families had held numerous meetings with UN bodies and government authorities to follow up on their loved ones’ cases, but had yet to receive clear information or answers about their fate.

The families’ demands reflect the continuing uncertainty surrounding the detainees’ fate. According to their accounts, they have not received sufficient information about where their loved ones are being held or their conditions.

Calls to Disclose Detention Locations and Ensure Detainees’ Safety

In a statement read outside the UN force’s headquarters, relatives of detained and abducted Syrians called on the international community to take a clear position that delivers justice for their loved ones and ends their families’ suffering. They also requested a response concerning the results of a meeting with the UN secretary-general and his deputy, and follow-up on the issues raised during it, saying no tangible results had emerged so far.

The statement called for urgent action to establish the fate and whereabouts of detained and abducted Syrians, ensure their safety, and uphold their human and legal rights, with particular attention to detained minors.

The families also demanded an official, clear response outlining the measures taken to follow up on the detainees’ cases, alongside concrete action by the Syrian state to bring them home to their families.

The protest comes as families continue to demand reliable information about their loved ones’ fate, stressing that the absence of official and UN responses leaves them waiting and anxious.

Quneitra Residents Urge UN to Halt Israeli Violations

2,427 Israeli Violations Recorded This Year

The Sijil Center documented 395 Israeli violations in Syria in October, the highest monthly total recorded in 2026, exceeding the 321 violations documented in March.

According to the report, released on Monday, November 2, violations in October averaged approximately 12.74 per day, followed by March with an average of 10.35 per day.

Adding October’s figures to those recorded since the beginning of the year brought the cumulative total to 2,427 violations.

According to the Sijil Center, Israeli violations during the month included 126 incursions, 122 incidents of aircraft activity, 44 checkpoints, 36 raids, 41 cases of detention and two killings.

Quneitra governorate (southwestern Syria) recorded the highest number of violations, with 285, followed by Daraa governorate (southern Syria) with 74, the Damascus countryside with 29, and Damascus with seven.

Killings and Detentions

The Sijil Center documented two incidents in which Israeli occupation forces killed Syrian civilians in October. It said these were the first such incidents since April and the first time the Israeli army had killed more than one Syrian civilian in a single month since the Beit Jinn incident on November 28, 2025.

The center said the number of Syrian civilians killed by the Israeli army since December 8, 2024, had risen to at least 38.

Regarding detentions, the center recorded 30 cases in October, including 29 in Quneitra and one in Daraa. These included people detained during raids or at checkpoints, as well as shepherds targeted while on agricultural land and grazing grounds, particularly around Jubata al-Khashab in the northern Quneitra countryside and Saida al-Hanout in the southern Quneitra countryside.

Detention periods ranged from a few hours to approximately 48 hours before several detainees were released. Two, however, remained unaccounted for at the time the report was published.

According to the report, the cases included a woman who was detained and questioned for two hours before being released, the first incident of its kind documented by the center.

According to Sijil’s records, 287 people have been detained since December 8, 2024, of whom 36 remain in detention. Another five Syrians were detained by Israeli forces before the fall of the Assad regime, bringing the total number of Syrians held in Israeli prisons whose fate remains unknown to 41 as of the end of October.