Northern Syria – North-Press Agency
In times of war, morals are dissolved and faded away through unusual behaviors which exceed the taboos, while some console themselves by backing it to the repercussions of the Syrian crisis such as the deteriorating economic and social situation, the proliferation of weapons and the lack of security control.
While the war itself has created unresolved psychological crises as a result of the disasters associated with it, including killing, loss, torture and abduction, and the accompanying mental and emotional deterioration, along with the displacement of generations and depriving many of their childhood by carrying burdens which exceed their ages.
The areas under the control of the Syrian government are a clear and dangerous example of that, which are represented by insecurity and a significant increase in crime in all its forms.
Prostitution network
Most areas under the control of the Syrian government have recorded crimes of rape, murder, prostitution, and the promotion and sale of narcotic pills grossly.
The city of al-Salamiya in Hama countryside had a portion of these cases after the police had arrested a network of prostitution practice and facilitation, after investigations with a thief who had stolen a sum of money from a house of his relatives.
The network is run by a woman, who exploits girls to engage them in immoral acts in her house in return for financial benefits.
These acts weren’t only being done secretly away from the family, but they were beyond the exploitation of girls and women to the exploitation of the wives by their husbands, which was exemplified in one of many cases that were revealed regarding such moral uncontrollability.
In the capital Damascus for example, the Criminal Security Branch arrested a person who was facilitating practicing prostitution for his wife in al-Sha’alan neighborhood for financial benefits.
His arrest was carried out by an ambush, which was prepared by the government police via sending an envoy to him to negotiate with him about the man’s activity through his wife and recording the incident by voice.
The ambush resulted in the arrest of the man and his wife, who justified this outrageous behavior by the deterioration of their financial situation and their need for money, and that the man had persuaded his wife deliberately who began hunting customers in parks and public places to catch the required amount of money.
Family prostitution
In Daf al-Shawk neighborhood adjacent to al-Tadamon in the southern part of the Syrian capital Damascus, one of the persons who is used to exploit his family in prostitution, was arrested with his two wives and his daughter in Jaramana neighborhood in Damascus along with the owner of the flat who was working in this outrageous field for $3,500.
Prostitution and public drugs
Resentment and condemnation by people of Aleppo were raised, who expressed through their webpages calling for the intervention of the government to deter the spread of prostitution and its association with drug-promotion networks.
Dr. Waddah Abu Dan assured that some girls are promoting drugs publicly in the neighborhoods of Aleppo and waiting in the street to pick up customers.
“There are two girls who stay and present themselves to the passers in front of a park next to al-Tawhid Mosque in al-Aziziya neighborhood of Aleppo”, Abu Dan said on his Facebook page.
“The one who agreed to practice prostitution is directly put forward to another agreement, which is selling narcotic pills such as Captagon and other names. If the person rejects the offered drugs, the two girls begin cursing and swearing and head to another customer”, he added.
While Dr. Abu Dan stressed on the pursuit of these aspects to be subjected to the concerned authorities saying: “We had prepared a secret media crew to film the girls in audio and video, but the car which was in front of us, picked them up and so we couldn’t.”
After social media pages have talked about the two girls with pictures on the main street, the Ministry of Interior in the Syrian government moved and managed to arrest the two girls in al-Aziziya neighborhood in the city of Aleppo.
The investigations revealed that the two girls are precedents who have been arrested more than once, and most recently was on January 10, 2019, for the crime of “impiety and hunting customers for prostitution.”
The city of Tartous
In the city of Tartous, the Syrian Security Forces arrested a prostitution network consisting of 3 persons including a woman for the promotion of narcotics and the practice of shameful acts.
According to the Facebook pages of the police in the Interior Ministry, the Counter-Drug Branch in the city and through the investigation of drug dealers in Tartous was able to arrest the three people possessing a quantity of cannabis, narcotic pills (Captagon) and an unlicensed gun.
The arrest of the three in Tartous comes as part of a wide-ranging campaign by the Interior Ministry to follow up drug promoters and its dealers from all governorates and to detain anyone who is found to be involved in dealing with it.
The Syrian Security Forces also arrested 7 persons, including women who were engaged in drug abuse, prostitution, and gambling, in Mashta al-Helou in Tartous.
The arrest resulted in the confiscation of hundreds of narcotic pills, gambling cards, unlicensed gun, and Russian gunpowder ammunition.
Official statistics
The Director of the General Board of Forensic Medicine, Zaher Hajjo revealed in late 2018 that 363 cases of sexual assault on female and male and were documented in 6 Syrian governorates.
Hajjo pointed out that Aleppo is ranked the first in this shameful list, and according to his statements which he made to a Syrian government newspaper, the number of cases reached 165, followed by Damascus with 110 cases and 48 ones in its countryside.
While the number of cases in the governorate of Hama was 58, it reached 13 in Lattakia, Suwayda 6 and one case in Homs.
The documented data included cases which were documented in cities without rural areas. Hajjo pointed out that about %90 of the cases aren’t reported due to the fear of people of the issue of shame, honor and so on.
Faced with so many crimes, which are a fraction of similar crimes which have given way to the proliferation of weapons, lack of surveillance, moral uncontrollability, and decay, people had nothing to do but to unleash their resentment to express their rejection of such crimes in the war-ravaged society.