Post

Lighthouse Reports
@lighthousereports.com

When Assad’s security state collapsed, locked doors opened, spilling decades of secrets. Among them: 100s of stolen children, hidden in orphanages & used to blackmail parents. We’ve done the deepest dive yet into this cruel system. Here’s what we found 🧵 www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

lighthousereports.comSyria’s Stolen ChildrenUnder the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. Families still have few answers from the new government or the international charity that kept it...
Lighthouse Reports
@lighthousereports.com

Mohammed Ghbeis was seized from an incubator in Damascus while only days old. By the time Mohammed’s mother Iman was able to see him in prison, he was a year old, taking his first steps. They couldn’t recognise each other. Ghbeis archive: Mohammed Ghbeis newborn

0 reposts15 likes

Lighthouse Reports
@lighthousereports.com

We tell the stories of toddlers, even newborns stolen from their parents, some of the 320+ children whose cases we’ve documented. Over 9 months, working with partners, we verified 1000s of documents, did 100+ interviews with families, ex-orphanage staff, lawyers & whistleblowers to build a database

Lighthouse Reports
@lighthousereports.com

At the heart of this system that tore apart families was a €1.6bn charity, SOS Children’s Villages. Funded by the UN, EU governments and private donors, SOS took in the largest number of stolen children. Its Syrian branch was run by the daughter of a close Assad aide