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Missing Syrian chess champion’s children likely dead, authorities say

Missing Syrian chess champion’s children likely dead, authorities say

Summary

Syria’s National Commission for Missing Persons says the children of dentist and former chess champion Rania al-Abbasi, who disappeared with their parents in 2013, are likely dead. The commission linked a former government figure to their deaths and continues searching for their remains.

Key Facts

  • Rania al-Abbasi, her husband, and six children disappeared in March 2013 during a government raid in Damascus.
  • The children were between 3 and 15 years old when they went missing.
  • The commission, created in 2025 by Syria’s new government, studied the case and concluded the children are deceased.
  • The family saw video evidence connected to the killings of the children.
  • The fate of Rania and her husband remains unknown, with suspicions they have also died but no bodies found.
  • Tens of thousands of people have disappeared in Syria since 2011, often detained or lost due to the civil war.
  • Syrian Interior Ministry linked Amjad Youssef, involved in a 2013 massacre, to the children’s killing.
  • Youssef was arrested in April amid calls for justice related to his role in mass killings documented on video.
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