A nurse in the surgical section of al Muhafaza Hospital in Idlib city, named as Yaser Istanbouli, who is originally from Aleppo city and now lives in Binnesh city in the northern suburbs of Idlib governorate, was arrested by Hay’at Tahrir al Sham personnel from Binnesh city on January 15, 2021, and taken to an undisclosed location. SNHR notes that no member of Yaser’s family has been informed of his arrest or whereabouts, with his phones being confiscated, preventing him from contacting his families. SNHR fears that he will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly ‘disappeared’, like approximately 85 percent of all detained persons in Syria. SNHR can confirm that at least 2,125 Syrian citizens are still detained or forcibly disappeared in the HTS’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to the detainees’ wellbeing, given the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
