The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that more than 38,000 people have been officially registered as missing in Syria over the past 15 years, warning that the real number is likely significantly higher.

“The ICRC has recorded more than 38,000 missing persons in Syria over the past 15 years,” Fareed al-Homaid, the organization’s spokesperson in Syria, told Rudaw. He noted that the figure includes only cases documented by the ICRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Al-Homaid stressed that the number represents only a fraction of the true scale of the crisis. “It is widely believed that this figure accounts for just a portion of the actual number,” he said, adding that tens of thousands of families across the country are still searching for information about the fate of their loved ones.

According to the ICRC, around 31,000 of the registered cases remain unresolved and under investigation. Al-Homaid said some families have received answers through family reunifications, the release of detainees, or the identification of human remains, but emphasized that “the search continues for the vast majority.”

He added that determining the fate and whereabouts of missing persons is a long-term process that can take decades, particularly in the aftermath of prolonged conflict and mass detentions.

In May, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a decree establishing an independent national commission for missing persons. The commission is mandated to operate across the country and help determine the fate of tens of thousands who disappeared during the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad.

The ICRC welcomed the move at the time, describing it as “a very positive decision and a first step toward finding solutions and answers for the families of the missing.”

According to Syria’s transitional government in Damascus, more than eight million Syrians were wanted by Assad’s intelligence and security services during his rule.

In December 2024, a coalition of opposition groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), then headed by Sharaa, overthrew Assad’s government. Sharaa was appointed interim president in late January 2025.

Humanitarian organizations continue to warn that addressing the issue of missing persons will require sustained political will, access to archives and detention sites, and long-term support for affected families.