Missing Syrian chess champion’s children likely dead, authorities say | Child Rights News
Syria Confirms Deaths of Six Children Missing Since 2013 under Assad Regime
May 31, 2026
The National Commission for Missing Persons (NCMP) in Syria has confirmed that the six children of Rania al-Abbasi, a dentist and former chess champion, are likely deceased. The children vanished alongside their parents more than a decade ago during the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad.
In a statement released Saturday, the NCMP said, “We have reached reliable and corroborating results that allow us to conclude with a high degree of professional certainty that Dr. Rania al-Abbasi’s children are deceased.”
The fate of the children, who had been missing since March 2013, became emblematic of the larger crisis involving missing children of detainees and those forcibly disappeared during the Assad regime, which formally ended with his ouster in 2024.
Reports indicate that Rania al-Abbasi, her husband Abdul Rahman Yasin, and their children, aged three to 15, were taken from their home in Damascus during a government raid. The NCMP, established by Syria’s new leadership in May 2025 to investigate cases of missing individuals, noted that its findings were based on rigorous verification and analysis conducted in collaboration with national authorities.
“Efforts to find the remains … are still ongoing,” the commission stated.
Hassan al-Abbasi, Rania’s brother, confirmed the children’s deaths in a video posted on social media. He reported that the family had seen footage linked to a key suspect in a 2013 massacre in Damascus, which included recordings that revealed the children’s identities.
“They turned out to be our children,” Hassan al-Abbasi remarked, adding, “We finally saw them … but they were martyred.”
While the fates of Rania and her husband remain officially unresolved, rights groups suggest they may have perished, although no remains have been found. The issue of missing persons continues to be a pressing concern in Syria, encompassing individuals who have disappeared in government custody, those lost during fighting, and others who vanished while fleeing the violence of civil war, which began in 2011.
The NCMP previously estimated that over the decades of Assad family rule, the number of missing individuals may exceed 300,000.
In a separate development, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced findings implicating Amjad Youssef, a controversial figure linked to the Assad regime and the perpetrator of the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in the killings of al-Abbasi’s children. The ministry’s statement indicated that detainee interrogations and supporting evidence gathered by the NCMP had bolstered their case.
Youssef was arrested in April, prompting calls from the Syrian public for accountability regarding his actions during the conflict.
The Tadamon incident gained international attention after disturbing footage surfaced, showcasing the alleged killings. In 2022, The Guardian published video evidence reportedly leaked by a conscript in a pro-government militia, depicting members of the Assad-era Military Intelligence Branch 227 executing a group of individuals, including footage identifying Youssef firing upon bound detainees.
