The Global Advisor Kidnap & extortive crime | January 2025 Middle East and North Africa
Celebrating 30 years in partnership
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw numbers of reported kidnaps over the fourth quarter of 2024 slightly decrease compared with the same period in 2023. Due to the escalation of regional conflict and instability, local and regional media reporting on kidnaps declined in favour of coverage of emerging security crises and political developments. Syria remained the region’s kidnap hotspot, accounting for approximately 49% of the regional total of reported kidnaps. In line with previous quarters of 2024, Aleppo governorate reported the highest number of kidnap incidents, with As Suwayda and Daraa governorates also recording high levels of kidnap activity. The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime will result in marked shifts in the kidnap environment, but continued security vacuums will sustain kidnapper activity over the coming year. Criminal gangs and militias continued to target victims for financial gain in Daraa, As Suwayda, Homs and Damascus provinces, and increasingly targeted victims based on ideological factors such as perceived affiliation with the Assad regime. The kidnap threat will remain elevated into 2025, though shifts in perpetrator and kidnap dynamics in light of the political transition are projected to persist. Kidnap numbers in Iran in the final quarter of 2024 remained consistent with levels reported in the same period in 2023. Tehran persisted as a hotspot for kidnap activity, with local and foreign criminal gangs regularly targeting victims for financial gain. Control Risks recorded a 50% decrease in kidnap incidents in Sistan and Baluchestan provinces compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, following heightened state security measures enforced to mitigate kidnap activity. The Iranian government continued to target foreign nationals in politically motivated detentions as a means
of political retaliation and as a form of coercive, hostage diplomacy against Western governments. In Iraq , a range of criminal gangs operating in Baghdad continued to target commercial personnel and their child dependants in financially motivated kidnap operations. Rare incidents targeting foreign nationals were reported, mainly expatriates who had established predictable routines that are easily exploited by criminals. There was a relative increase in reported kidnaps across Lebanon this quarter compared to the same period in 2023, primarily in Akkbar, Baalkbek-Hermel and North Lebanon governorates. Following heightened internal instability and strained state security capabilities amid Israel’s conflict with Shia movement Hizbullah, less sophisticated criminal gangs capitalised on the situation to employ kidnap operations while the security forces were preoccupied with the conflict.
84 % of abductions happened in transit/outdoors 80 % of abductions resolved in less than 8 days 11 sectors affected
Key developments October to December 2024
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region saw numbers of reported kidnaps over the third quarter of 2024 decrease compared with the same period in 2023. Syria maintained high recorded numbers of kidnaps, though political developments triggered shifts in kidnap and perpetrator dynamics. Political detention remained the most prevalent threat to foreign commercial personnel and multinationals in Iran , with kidnaps-for-ransom mainly affecting local nationals. In Iraq , criminal gangs in Baghdad continued to sporadically target both local and foreign victims in financially motivated kidnaps. Kidnap rates in Lebanon increased, with criminals capitalising on weakened state security oversight amid regional conflict and instability.
07
Copyright © Control Risks – Please refer to the disclaimer at the end of this document.
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker