Between the tranquil island of Arwad in Tartus, where he was born, and the death cells of Damascus, the story of Abdul Rahman Yassin encapsulates the tragedy of an entire nation.
Yassin, a business administration graduate who never received justice in life or death, managed his life by traveling between Saudi Arabia, where he worked, and Damascus, where his family lived, unaware that his next journey would be one of no return, and that his next step would cost him the lives of his entire family.
The Night of the Attack and the Security Forces' Extortion
The tumultuous tragedy began with Abdul Rahman's sudden arrest in 2013. The very next day, Syrian security forces brought him to his home in Damascus in handcuffs, his body bearing the marks of brutal torture that had altered his features. The young man stood before his wife, Rania al-Abbasi, and his terrified children, forced under duress to deliver a single message: "Obey the security forces' orders and hand over everything they demand."
This was not a mere visit; it was a robbery under the guise of security. Security forces stripped the family of everything they owned: all their identification and personal documents, savings, gold, computers, and phones.
After the robbery, Yassin was re-arrested, and his wife, Rania al-Abbasi, was left under terrifying threats. Security forces forced her to keep the matter a complete secret. For two days, Abdul Rahman's family called to check on him, and Rania, her voice trembling with fear, would answer, "He's asleep," following the orders of her captors.
A total annihilation: The family arrested and the children executed.
Not content with arresting the father and seizing the house, the regime, just two days after the threats, raided the home again and arrested Rania and the children. All trace of them vanished. Yassin's family only learned of the incident later through Rania's sister, who revealed the truth. The persecution didn't stop there; it extended to Abdul Rahman's sister herself, who was later arrested and detained for several months, during which she was transferred between notorious security branches.
But the most horrific tragedy, a documented atrocity that shames humanity, lies in the fate of the children. According to videos of the Tadamon massacre, the dates and times recorded in the footage show that Abdul Rahman Yassin's children were summarily executed just three hours after their arrest.
International mediation efforts met with a wall of secrecy
Faced with the enormity of the tragedy, the Yassin family tried every possible avenue to uncover the fate of their son and his family. According to the family's testimony, their efforts succeeded in reaching former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who responded to the humanitarian appeals and personally raised the issue directly with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but received no reply.
A cry for justice
Today, the entire Yassin family is missing: a father disappeared in torture chambers, a mother deprived of her freedom, and children whose lives were taken just hours after their arrest. Their story remains a lingering cry from the grieving family, a plea for the voice of the "martyr who didn't receive his due," and a living testament to an era in which entire Syrian families were wiped out behind walls of absolute silence.
Abdul Rahman's sister feels deeply wronged, as her brother hasn't received the media attention he deserves. He was merely a minor detail in the family's story when it was told, while he was the heart and soul of the family, its head.
Zaman Al Wasl
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