MEDirections is delighted to share a new Policy Brief from the Wartime and Post-Conflict in Syria project (WPCS). This publication is available in English and Arabic.

In the Druze-majority governorate of Sweida, kidnap gangs have evolved from their first unorganised forms in 2012 to sophisticated criminal networks with highly clandestine activities and elaborate prison systems. While substantial resources are required to survey, lure and detain victims for long periods, this organised criminal activity has become highly profitable for gangs. It poses a serious threat to civil peace in Sweida, with clashes threatening to go out of control and exposing the limits of local community interventions.