The name of the child, Mohammad Qais Haidar, has been trending among Syrians on social media over the past hours, as a widely circulated photo showed the young boy being abducted by masked men.

The photo, which spread widely across social platforms, showed Mohammad crying while two masked men were pulling him from in front of his school, “Jamal Dawood,” in the city of Latakia on Wednesday morning.

In response, the Syrian Ministry of Interior issued a statement on X late Wednesday night confirming that “the Internal Security Command in Latakia Governorate is closely following the case of the abduction of Mohammad Qais Haidar, which occurred in front of Jamal Dawood School, and has instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate action, start investigations, and gather necessary information to uncover the circumstances of the incident and identify the perpetrators.”

Meanwhile, Latakia Governor Mohammad Othman emphasized in a post on X that he “is closely monitoring the child’s abduction case with the Internal Security Command in the governorate,” adding that “security agencies are exerting strenuous efforts to reach the perpetrators, arrest them, and bring them to justice.”

He also considered that “these heinous crimes are a desperate reaction to the recent security successes achieved by the internal security in consolidating safety and stability in the governorate.” He noted that “this security has disturbed the criminal gangs seeking to undermine the safety and security of the governorate.”

He further pointed out that these crimes aim to “return the region to a state of fear and instability,” but affirmed that security forces will not allow a recurrence of that phase.

It is worth mentioning that Latakia Governorate witnessed deadly clashes in March between security forces and “remnants of the former regime,” according to the Ministry of Interior at the time.

The clashes resulted in some violations against civilians in the governorate, which is home to a large segment of Syrian citizens belonging to the Alawite sect, as confirmed then by Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharrah, who stressed that all involved will be held accountable.