蜜芽传媒

Thousands of Syrians disappeared between 2013 and 2014 are believed to have been seized by the Islamic State, the extremist group that in 2014 overran large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it set up a so-called Islamic caliphate.

In a new report, Unearthing Hope: The Search for the Missing Victims of ISIS, the Syria Justice and Accountability Center said that about 6,000 bodies have been exhumed from dozens of mass graves dug by IS in northeast Syria, and retrieved from buildings destroyed in airstrikes by the US-led coalition during the military campaign that eventually brought down IS.

The families of the disappeared say they feel abandoned and have been left to search with very little help. One of those living with the anguish and uncertainty of not knowing what happened to their loved ones is Mohammad whose brother went missing in 2014. He says his brother had been working for an NGO, and was taken by the IS group, who then claimed to have killed him but did not return the body. He says the family are still coming to terms with his disappearance.

Photo: A damaged site in Raqqa, Syria, 2017 Credit: EPA

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