Rudaw publishes details of a “massacre” against a Kurdish family in Deir ez-Zor
Horrifying evidence has emerged from videos and voice messages documenting a massacre committed against a Kurdish family by forces said to be loyal to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on 18 January 2026, one day after the Syrian Arab Army and allied armed groups launched a large-scale offensive to seize the strategic city of Raqqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Rudaw Media Network obtained shocking visual evidence of the massacre, along with several voice messages recorded by a family member who was present during the attack in a village east of Raqqa.
A family of 12
Mohammad Ismail Saleh has gathered his family of 12 in his small truck, heading toward the city of Hasakah, which enjoys relative security in northeastern Syria (Rojava) and remains under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The Kurdish-led forces function as the de facto army of Rojava and were a key ally of the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria, playing a pivotal role in the group’s defeat in 2019.
As Raqqa came under attack by government forces and allied armed groups, the road was extremely dangerous. Nevertheless, Mohammad believed that remaining in the city as the fighting intensified would put his family at even greater risk.
When the truck reached an intersection near the village of Abu Khashab, about 90 kilometers north of Deir ez-Zor, the family was ordered to stop. It was around 5:30 p.m. local time, shortly after sunset, when a group of gunmen had set up a temporary checkpoint.
That day, the Syrian Democratic Forces were withdrawing from the area, as tribal fighters who had long allied with the Kurdish-led forces switched their allegiance to the government. Videos from eastern Syria showed chaotic scenes of the SDF’s withdrawal from the predominantly Arab province.
“Are you Kurdish or Arab?”
One of the gunmen, who appeared to be the leader, asked: “Where are you from?“ Mohammad replied: “From Raqqa.”
The gunman then asked: “Kurdish or Arab?”
Mohammad answered: “Kurdish, but we do not belong to any armed or political party.”
The leader shouted: “Kill all the adults.“ The family tried to get out of the vehicle to beg for their lives. Immediately, one of the gunmen shot Mohammad in the head.
The attackers then dragged the mother, Sara Shahin Saleh, sat her on the ground, and shot her in the head from behind.
The gunmen then opened fire on the rest of the family. Three of the children were killed: Youssef (20), Layla (17), and Afin (10), in addition to their sister’s husband and cousin, Mahmoud Ahmed Saleh (26).
No escape
The remaining members of the 12-person family also tried to flee, but the gunmen shot at them as well. All were wounded, including Sherin Mohammad Saleh. The25-year-old woman, whose husband Mahmoud was killed, became a witness to the massacre. Amid the chaos, she grabbed her phone and sent about ten short voice messages to Ismail, her husband’s brother and her cousin.
Sherin cried out: “My father is dead, Youssef is dead, Mahmoud is dead, and my mother is dead.”
She added: “I’m calling them, but no one is responding.”
The voice messages, along with horrific video footage documenting the massacre, were provided to Rudaw by human rights activist Kamran Osman, who has a long record of investigating human rights violations.
Sherin’s ninth voice message
By the time Sherin sent her ninth voice message to Ismail, her father Mohammad Ismail Saleh (50), her mother Sara Shahin (49), her brother Youssef Mohammad Saleh (20), her sister Layla Mohammad Saleh (17), Afin Mohammad Saleh (10), and her husband Mahmoud Ahmed Saleh (26) had all been killed.
Sherin pleaded: “Ismail, I was shot in the back. I might die too.”
She added: “My children are in their hands. Come and take them.”
Finding the wounded
The victims’ bodies were left at the scene, while the gunmen placed the wounded in their vehicles and drove toward Deir ez-Zor, later abandoning them on the road near the city. According to Sherin, a passing family found the wounded and transported them all to Deir ez-Zor General Hospital.
The wounded were identified as: Ghazal Mohammad Saleh (16), Ibrahim Mohammad Saleh, and the children of Sherin and Mahmoud Saleh: Shadi (6), Ibrahim (4), and Lavand (2).
Initial care
The injured were later located in Raqqa, likely with the help of neighbors who sheltered them and provided initial care. Family members living outside Syria sent money to those neighbors to hire a doctor to provide private treatment in their homes.
Meanwhile, villagers from Abu Khashab later collected the bodies of the victims after family members provided photos to identify them. In a video shared by Osman with Rudaw, a man can be heard saying that the victims were their neighbors, as he walks around the vehicle showing the bodies and naming them.
“A massacre one day after the Barak meeting”
The bloody massacre, which Sherin insists was carried out by “Syrian state forces,” occurred just one day after Kurdish leaders met in Erbil on 17 January 2026 with US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barak, in the hope of preventing the imminent attack-without success.
In fact, on the same day the family left Raqqa, 18 January 2026, Al-Sharaa announced that he had reached a 14-point agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces, calling for a ceasefire and a commitment to continue dialogue—an agreement that, had it held, could have stopped the bloodshed of Kurds.
Barak welcomed the agreement between Damascus and the Kurds, even as chaos continued to spread across Deir ez-Zor.
Barak wrote on X: “The United States commends the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for their constructive efforts in reaching a ceasefire agreement today, paving the way for renewed dialogue and cooperation toward a unified Syria.“ He added that he hoped for “an inclusive Syria that protects the interests and rights of all its citizens, while advancing shared goals of reconciliation and national unity by integrating divergent interests into a single, coherent path forward.”
This statement was issued while the blood of the Saleh family had not yet dried on the soil of Deir ez-Zor.
Texts of Sherin’s voice recordings:
Ismail, I can’t, Ismail. Ismail, I can’t stand on my feet because of my back. Ismail, I don’t know where they took the children. They took Layla to the emergency department. I don’t know.
My father is dead. He’s dead. Youssef is dead. No one is coming to take us. No one is taking us. I’ve been shot all over. I don’t know what’s wrong with my back. They shot me from behind.
Won’t anyone come from there, Ismail? I’m on the ground, Ismail. Ismail. I don’t know where they took the children, Ismail. Ismail… Ismail… Ah, ah, Ismail.
My uncle, my father, Youssef—what will I say, Ismail? Who am I calling? No one answers me, no one looks at me. And I don’t know where they took the children, Ismail. The children are gone too.
My uncle is dead, and I’m dead too, Ismail. I’m dead too, Ismail. I’m dead too. I was shot.
Ismail, I was shot in the back. I might die too. My children are in their hands—come and take them. I don’t know if they took them to the hospital.
He’s dead. My father is dead. Youssef is dead. We’re all dead. No one is left.
(A child speaks in the background: “I was shot.”)
They shot Ghazal and me. They shot Ghazal and me. We’re all dead. Come and take my children from their hands, Ismail. Come and take my children.
Youssef. My father. None of us are left. None of us are left.
Ahhh, Ismail. No father. No Youssef. No mother. No uncle. They shot all of them in the head.
Ismail, they put my children in the car and I don’t know where they kidnapped them to. I don’t know, I don’t know.
