Nearly 100 people abducted or disappeared in Syria since January, says UN

At least 97 people have been recorded as abducted or disappeared in Syria since the start of the year, with reports of new enforced disappearances continuing, the UN human rights office says.

The latest number is in addition to the more than 100,000 people who went missing under ousted president Bashar al-Assad, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Thameen Al-Keetan tells reporters in Geneva.

The UN human rights office says that the volatile security situation in Syria, following outbreaks of violence in coastal areas and the southern, Druze-majority city of Sweida, made it difficult to find and trace missing persons as some are scared to speak.

Some people faced threats for speaking to the UN, Al-Keetan adds.

The OHCHR has raised the case of the disappearance of the Syria Civil Defense volunteer Hamza Al-Amarin, who went missing on July 16 while supporting a humanitarian evacuation mission during violence in Sweida, and called for international law to be respected.