A children’s bedroom
Diaa Hadid/NPR
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Diaa Hadid/NPR
In Syria about a decade ago, while the Assad regime was focused on crushing an uprising that challenged its rule, it faced a problem. It had too many children in detention, who had been swept up when their mothers were arrested. An NPR investigation has found that hundreds of children were separated from family and placed in orphanages around Damascus by government intelligence agents. They ordered the orphanages to keep this a secret.
Now that the Assad regime has fallen, families are searching the Syrian capital for their missing children. We go to Damascus to learn more.