The Global Advisor Kidnap & extortive crime | January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
Reported kidnaps in Syria continued to decrease in the last quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024, due to a deterioration in the reporting environment. Incidents in Damascus rose over the quarter, with high-profile businessmen continuing to be targeted for ransom. Control Risks also recorded several incidents affecting foreign nationals originating from other Middle Eastern countries over the past quarter. These included the kidnap-for-ransom of two Lebanese nationals in Homs governorate and the abduction of a Saudi national in Damascus. Incidents affecting higher-profile victims will continue as international travel to Syria increases. Control Risks has recorded a slight uptick in kidnapping activity by the Polisario Front in Algeria and Mauritania . In September 2025, Polisario elements abducted ten Mauritanian gold prospectors in Mauritania’s Tiris Zemmour region. In a separate incident in October, rogue elements of the Polisario Front abducted an unspecified number of Chinese construction workers in Algeria’s Tindouf province. The Polisario Front does not commonly employ kidnapping as a tactic, however, and any further incidents will be primarily carried out by group members acting independent of the central leadership. Lebanon saw its number of reported kidnaps decrease in the last quarter of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024. However, despite a lower rate of incidents, kidnapper tactics have remained consistent. Organised criminal groups continued to target Syrian expatriates for ransom throughout the country. In outlier cases, other nationalities, typically originating from other Middle Eastern countries, also fall victim to the crime, due to their perceived wealth and associated ransom value. For instance, criminals in November 2025 abducted a Kuwaiti national
in Beqaa governorate. Kidnapping-for-ransom will continue to pose a latent threat to commercial personnel over the coming quarters. Staff of humanitarian bodies and INGOs will continue to face a significant detention risk in Yemen . Control Risks recorded an uptick in detentions targeting humanitarian and INGO personnel following an address by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, a Houthi leader, on the group’s satellite channel, al-Masirah, on 16 October. al-Houthi accused relief agencies and their staff of espionage in areas under the group’s control. The Houthis then carried out mass detention campaigns, primarily in Sanaa, as well as in other parts of the country under their control and sentenced 18 Yemeni UN workers to death in November. Despite a high-profile cryptocurrency-related abduction and killing of two Russian expatriates in the UAE in October, who were lured by two of their compatriots, kidnapping-for-ransom will continue to pose low risks to commercial personnel in the Gulf country. Reported kidnaps remain isolated incidents in the UAE, and the crime is unlikely to increase in frequency. The October incident, nonetheless, underscores the growing global activity of Eastern European criminal groups, who will remain drawn to cryptocurrency-related kidnapping as a source of revenue generation. Such incidents will remain sporadic in the MENA region, as cryptocurrency adoption levels remain low and specialised Eastern European criminal gangs do not maintain an entrenched presence in the region.
65 % of abductions happened in transit/outdoors 79 % of abductions resolved in less than 8 days 6 sectors affected
Key developments October to December 2025
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region recorded a 28% decrease in the number of reported kidnaps for the last quarter of 2025 relative to the same period in 2024. While reported kidnaps in Syria continued to decrease, recorded incidents in Damascus increased for the last quarter of 2025.Control Risks recorded a number of abductions of foreign nationals. Algeria and Mauritania saw a slight uptick in reported kidnaps, driven by the kidnapping activity of elements of the Western Saharan separatist group, the Polisario Front. Although reported kidnaps in Lebanon decreased, kidnapper tactics remained largely consistent with previous quarters. Yemen saw an increase in mass detention campaigns targeting staff of humanitarian and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). Although the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) saw an outlier high-profile cryptocurrency-related abduction over the past quarter, kidnap risks will remain low.
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