MANBIJ — One harrowing video captures a girl begging her brother not to kill her — moments before he pulls the trigger. In Syria, two men shot and killed their own family members: one murdered his sister, the other his daughter. They filmed it and claimed it was in the name of “honor.”
But what honor was at stake?
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Local media reported that both girls, under 18, had previously been kidnapped by drug traffickers. After their release, instead of being supported or protected, they were executed by their own relatives — the very people who should have shielded them.
These girls were victims not once, but repeatedly: during their abduction, upon their return, and again when their families turned on them. Their tragic stories speak volumes about the persistent dangers women face in this region.
Quiet sadness or open pride
Watching that video took me back to a similar event in Aleppo from some 20 years ago — one that played out in my own childhood neighborhood. Women’s celebratory ululations filled the air, not for a wedding or a homecoming, but for a boy who had “restored the family’s honor” by killing his sister. The family had locked the two in a room together. After her cries and a single gunshot, the neighborhood erupted in a most disturbing celebration.
The story of her death lived on — not as a tragedy, but as a whispered tale passed along with evening tea. Women recalled it with quiet sadness; men with open pride.
From their fragmented memories, I pieced together what had happened. The girl had fallen in love with her brother’s friend. When he found out, he beat her so severely she was hospitalized. Embarrassed, the mother took her to a neurologist. Out of fear she might be seen as “damaged” and thus impossible to marry, the girl began taking medication.
Under its effects, she once lost consciousness in the street and was helped by an elderly couple. Though she returned home on her own the next day, her family refused to believe she had remained unharmed. A medical report confirmed her virginity, but that wasn’t enough. To quiet gossip, they convinced her sixteen-year-old brother to kill her.
Injustice for all
Such crimes are rarely addressed through the justice system. Even when perpetrators are prosecuted — which is rare — the deeper issue is the practice itself, now entrenched in this culture. Families often assign the act to a minor, ensuring a lighter sentence. Some killers serve only a few months in prison. These murders are orchestrated, and the victim is quickly forgotten — until another girl is killed somewhere else.
The killer is praised, treated with reverence, even financially supported
Stories like these have haunted me as I’ve grown older. From Aleppo to Sweida to Hasakah, they echo louder and more frequently. In each case, the killer is praised, treated with reverence, even financially supported during incarceration.
During Syria’s brutal civil war, which began in 2011 and ended with the fall in 2024 of the Assad regime, the nation fractured in countless ways: politically, socially and militarily. But one thing united many communities: the continued sacrifice of women on the altar of “honor” and “tradition.”
Modern adaption
Rather than challenge this practice, many simply adapt it to modern circumstances and tools. Honor killings are now filmed — no longer passed down by word of mouth, but spread across screens for public consumption. Militias and factions, though divided on religion and nationalism, rarely opposed this violence. Some even used it to win the loyalty of families by upholding their “customs.”
Because these are not just individual crimes — they are societal failures
From 2024 through early 2025, new cases emerged in Syrian cities like Sweida, Hasakah, and again in Manbij. The weapons may have changed — Kalashnikovs replacing pistols — but the patterns remain. Victims beg for mercy in videos, pleading with fathers, brothers, cousins. Gunfire cuts through their sobs. There are no trials. No real investigations. Only death — and silence.
Societal failures
Rights organizations have documented what they can, but there’s still no complete count of honor crimes in Syria. If the new government wishes to rebuild the country with integrity, it must begin by confronting and eradicating these killings.
We should not have to wait for another horrific video or public outrage to spur action.
Because these are not just individual crimes — they are societal failures. And they will not be solved simply by jailing the killer, if he’s jailed at all. They will only end when the entire practice is condemned, dismantled, and replaced by justice that protects the victims — not the “honor” of those who destroy them.
