Two brothers, identified as 27-year-old Bassel and 14-year-old Abdullah Ahmad al-Khalaf from Makhla Saghira village in eastern rural Raqqa governorate, were shot dead on August 31, 2024, by unidentified gunmen while herding sheep in the badiya ‘desert area’ of Ma’dan city in eastern Raqqa governorate. The area is under the control of Syrian regime forces.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) is still trying to locate eyewitnesses to obtain more information about the incident.
We call on the controlling forces to uphold their responsibilities for protecting civilians in their areas, to investigate this incident, and to make the investigation’s findings known to the public. Syria will never have true stability without a genuine political transition process towards democracy within a fixed timetable.
