Syria says missing chess champion’s six children likely killed under Assad

Syria says missing chess champion’s six children likely killed under Assad Submitted by Reem Aouir on Sun, 05/31/2026 - 11:11 Preliminary findings implicate ex-intelligence officer Amjad Youssef in deaths of the children missing since 2013 Rania al-Abbasi and her family became a symbol of Syria's thousands of missing persons cases (media outlets/social media) Off Syria's  commission for missing persons said on Saturday that the six children of chess champion and dentist Rania al-Abbasi were killed after disappearing with their parents more than a decade ago under former President Bashar al-Assad. In a post on X, the interior ministry said: “Through investigations conducted with several detainees, information and evidence indicate that the children were killed by groups and militias affiliated with the former regime.” It added that “efforts to find the remains... are still ongoing”. According to the statement, video footage and information related to the case, provided by the National Commission for the Missing, have strengthened the evidence collected. The family was informed of the findings before any public announcement, in line with a protocol intended to protect their right to know while safeguarding their dignity, according to the interior ministry's statement. Abbasi was a well-known figure in Syria as a dentist and chess player who held both Syrian and Arab championship titles, and was an outspoken opponent of the Assad government. In March 2013, Assad forces raided the family home in Damascus and detained her along with her husband, Abdul-Rahman Yasin, and their six children, aged between 2 and 14 years old at the time of their arrest. For more than a decade, h...

Original source: Middle East Eye