Syrian detainees recount experiences in Israel

A moment of happiness and relief for this Syrian mother.

Her son, Bashar, arriving home more than a year after

Israeli forces

arrested him. Bashar Jasim spent the last two months in

a prison where he

was the only Syrian.

He doesn't seem to have processed what happened.

"I was gone,

and yesterday I came back. That's all I know." He said he couldn't

talk about

the day that he was taken or his treatment in Israeli detention.

"This is a story I cannot tell you."

Ahmed, not his real name, was also detained for more than a year.

He says he spent three months of that in handcuffs.

"He

says guards threw stun grenades into the cells to wake them for searches."

"And

that he was taken to what was called the disco room, where music

was played at

excruciating volume."

Al Jazeera spoke to multiple other Syrians from these border regions who were

detained inside Israel. Most were too afraid to appear on camera,

but their testimony is consistent.

Routine sleep deprivation, stun grenades thrown into cells before

dawn, violent searches using dogs, and being bound or

forced to hold stress positions for hours, leading to infected pressure injuries.

Mohammed Sayed was detained in 2025.

He says that while he was being interrogated,

Israeli officers showed him maps of

his neighborhood and home.

Except what he was accused of, Mohammed was asked if he was a member of

ISIL, Hezbollah, Hamas, and a list of other armed groups.

This follows a pattern. Many Syrians said they didn't know why

they were

detained, and it seemed their interrogators didn't

know either.

They attributed this to false reports by people informing for Israel.

The Israeli military and prison service declined to comment.

Hassan Saladin Ahmed is among the parents hoping their children

will be released

next. His son, then 16, was taken more than two years

ago. "Is there something new?" one parent

asks. "Nothing." Rumors swirl of an imminent

release.