A/HRC/28/69 B. Hostage-taking 92. In this reporting period, non-State armed groups, motivated by the need to effect a prisoner exchange or extract ransom, have abducted individuals, in violation of international humanitarian and criminal law. 93. Where ransoms are demanded, it is increasingly difficult to discern whether the perpetrators are parties to the conflict, or simply an opportunistic criminal gang. Non-State armed groups Anti-Government armed groups 94. Armed groups in Damascus and Al-Quneitra have kidnapped civilians and members of the Syrian armed forces, in order to force prisoner exchanges. 95. Twenty-six hostages, mainly women and children, captured by Jabhat Al-Nusra in December 2013 in Adra Al-Omaliyah (Damascus), are still being held. Relatives of the female hostages have received telephone calls, ostensibly from members of the group, demanding that the families urge the Government to release detained Al-Nusra fighters as part of a prisoner exchange. Al-Nusra released a video repeating these demands shortly after the kidnapping. Since August 2014, however, there has been no news of the hostages. 96. In mid-June 2014, an armed group attacked Tal Al-Jumou military base in AlQuneitra, capturing a Colonel. The group then sought to exchange the officer for 200 women held by the Government in detention centres in Damascus. 97. In August 2014, nine members of a family – including three women and two children aged 12 and 10 years – were kidnapped by an unidentified armed group from their home in a village in the eastern Hama countryside. Their property was destroyed during the attack. In exchange for the release of the hostages, their kidnappers demanded the defection of a son currently serving in the army. 98. Anti-Government armed groups operating in Hama, Damascus and Dara’a have taken hostage civilians from families or areas perceived to be supportive of the Government, and have demanded ransoms. In June 2014, a farmer was kidnapped from fields outside the village of Al-Muzairia (Hama) and held for ransom for several weeks by an unidentified armed group based in Al-Staihat. 99. In late June, two soldiers returning from home leave were kidnapped at the Tel Brak checkpoint (Al Hasakah). Shortly afterwards, a group claiming to be the Islamic Front contacted the family, provided proof of life, and demanded a high ransom. As the family was unable to raise the necessary funds to meet the group’s demands, in July 2014, the group informed the family that they were selling the soldiers to ISIS in Ar Raqqah. ISIS later released a video purporting to show the execution of the two soldiers. In mid-2014, a taxi driver was abducted by an armed group while driving between Dama and Dir Dama (Damascus). The abductors demanded 5 million Syrian lira as ransom. The man was released after the family paid 1.5 million lira. 100. Armed groups continue to hold hostages for extended periods. On 4 August 2013, groups – including Ahrar Al-Sham and Jabhat Al-Nusra – abducted over 100 civilians during an operation on villages in eastern Latakia. Approximately 40 were released in the beginning of May 2014, after signing an agreement between fighters and the Government enabling the withdrawal of rebel fighters from Homs city. On 26 January 2015, a proopposition website published what it alleged to be video footage recorded on 6 December 2014, showing approximately 55 women and children who had been taken hostage from the Latakia villages. In the video, hostages urge the Government to exchange them with 38