الخط الأمامي✪ 
In Salhab, the echoes of Rawan’s story still resonate, revealing a wound deeper than just an individual assault. Three young men, in broad daylight and in front of passersby, turned her body into a message. A message bearing not only the signatures of the perpetrators but the fingerprints of an entire collapsing state. But what the assailants did not know was that Rawan’s trauma was not the end, but the beginning of an unspoken fury. Her anger was part of a silent uprising carried out by thousands of women in Syria who refuse for their bodies to be mere raw material for violence, screaming in the face of a patriarchal, authoritarian system where political repression intersects with class violence.
What is happening in Syria is not just isolated incidents; it is the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. It is a political, military, and social tool, targeting individuals to threaten entire communities. Rape permeates the fabric of the Syrian conflict, becoming part of the tactics of armed militias and security forces, feeding on economic collapse, and its impact is multiplied by patriarchal social structures and the absence of legal justice. This article analyzes this phenomenon, from survivor testimonies to its political and social roots, to show how the bodies of women and men in Syria have become a space for expressing dominance and revenge, and how these crimes have become a mirror of the torn Syrian reality.
Amnesty International documented in a recent report dozens of cases where violence against women was used systematically. The organization confirms that these acts, which included the kidnapping of women and girls, were committed as part of war and control strategies. These cases go beyond official statistics, appearing in painful individual and local stories; in addition to Rawan’s story, stories from As-Suwayda, recounted by local activists, tell of the bodies of raped women and a girl dumped on the roadside after the attack on the province, providing further testimony that sexual crimes are no longer isolated incidents but are directed practices to intimidate and subjugate communities.
Conversely, sexual violence has also been used by the Syrian regime’s security forces inside detention centers. Multiple reports indicate that rape and sexual harassment were primary tools of torture and interrogation, not only against female political detainees but also against men. Reports from ECCHR and the All Survivors Project indicate that practices such as rape with solid objects, threats, and electric shocks to the genitals were not random incidents but part of a systematic repressive system aimed at breaking will and eliminating opposition. These reports document testimonies from survivors of prisons like Sednaya, where men were routinely subjected to sexual assault. (Sources: ECCHR, All Survivors Project).
Economic and Social Violence: Poverty and Stigma as Fuel for Violence
Sexual violence in Syria feeds not only on armed conflict but also finds fertile ground in economic collapse. Extreme poverty and rampant unemployment push young people into the embrace of militias and armed groups, where violence becomes a means to achieve material gains. In this environment, women become easy targets for kidnapping and assault, especially in overcrowded camps and poor areas. Poverty multiplies women’s vulnerability and makes them susceptible to exploitation, forcing them to face a loss of safety and privacy with no support.
Added to this are traditional social structures that increase the burden on survivors. In a patriarchal society, a woman’s body is seen as a symbol of family or sectarian honor. This concept makes an assault on her an insult to the entire community and pushes survivors into isolation and stigma. While men who suffer sexual violence face enormous psychological suffering, they often do not bear the same social burden as women, revealing a deep gap in dealing with these crimes. The stigma can last for decades, making recovery extremely difficult and allowing the crime’s effects to extend to entire generations.
The Continuity of Violence Across Systems
Comparing the past to the present reveals a painful truth: the violations are not the product of an individual ruler’s character but are systematic practices of continuous ruling systems that use violence to maintain power. During the eras of the two Assads, women faced arrests, rape in detention, and forced displacement. These practices were not exclusive tools of a repressive state aimed at subjugating society; they intersected with other brutal practices of counter-revolutionary factions, such as the enslavement and rape of thousands of Yazidi women and girls by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, aiming to destroy their religious and cultural identity. Today, under al-Jolani’s Termidor rule, these same tools of repression are being reproduced with new methods, where religion and sect are used to justify control and violence, with less powerful groups targeted for revenge. In both cases, the bodies of women and vulnerable groups remain the main battlefield.
This analysis confirms that sexual violence in Syria is not a transient phenomenon linked to the events of the conflict but is an embodiment of a repressive culture rooted in the structure of the state and society. The collapse of a unifying national identity has exacerbated sub-identities, and women’s bodies have become a tool for targeting their community, turning the individual experience into a collective message of revenge and an instrument for drawing boundaries between “us” and “them.”
Violence as a Product of Social Contradictions
Violence directed against women and vulnerable groups is not just a strategy of the controlling powers but is also a product of deep contradictions in the social and economic structure. With the collapse of state institutions, force becomes the sole determinant of relationships. Here, sexual violence finds refuge in an environment fueled by unemployment, poverty, and despair, where the most miserable classes become tools to oppress each other. Individuals who have lost everything may become part of the repression machine, not only driven by ideology but also by need and survival.
This phenomenon clearly shows that violence is not merely a moral deviation but a logical consequence of the collapse of human values under the pressure of conflicts fueled by class interests. The conflict in Syria, at its core, is a struggle for power and resources, and sexual violence is one of its most brutal manifestations, where the body is used to forcibly rearrange social and economic relations.
Towards Radical Solutions: Moving Beyond Patriarchal Capitalism
The absence of legal justice increases the fragility of the situation. Perpetrators often escape punishment, while victims bear the social and psychological responsibility. This reality perpetuates the cycle of violence and multiplies the suffering. Syrian laws, even before the conflict, did not provide adequate protection for victims, and today, with the collapse of institutions, accessing justice has become impossible.
The psychological effects of sexual violence are not limited to PTSD, depression, and anxiety. They destroy self-confidence and trust in others, lead to social isolation, and make survivors unable to build healthy relationships. These effects do not disappear easily; they require continuous psychological and legal support, which is rare in Syria today.
But temporary solutions like humanitarian aid or even superficial legal reforms will not be enough. True recovery can only be achieved by building a new social system. This requires moving beyond systems that fuel class and gender violence and rebuilding society on the foundations of true social justice. Protecting human dignity, supporting survivors, and rebuilding communities must be part of a comprehensive revolution aimed at liberating the individual from all forms of oppression, whether class-based, gender-based, or political. This crime must not remain in the shadows; it must illuminate our path towards a deeper understanding of the conflict and towards working for a more just future.
Feminist struggle
About Author
