A/HRC/25/65 November 2011, revealed that four of his fellow soldiers were arrested by their superiors after they refused to open fire on a group of peaceful demonstrators. The interviewee never saw them again, inferring that insubordination was punished by disappearance. 20. Relatives of those individuals wanted by the Syrian security apparatus have also been victims of enforced disappearances. A young man, who defected from the Republican Guard in June 2011, explained how his superiors came to his village in Dara’a, three weeks after his defection. They arrested his younger cousin, in an apparent reprisal. His cousin was taken to an unknown location and his fate never uncovered. Another protester reported that after he participated in several peaceful demonstrations in Dael, Dara’a, in March 2011, agents of the Political Security raided his house and forcibly disappeared one of his brothers. He stated plainly, “my brother was probably detained because of me”. He believed that his brother’s abduction was aimed at instilling fear in the relatives of protesters to deter them from participating in demonstrations. 21. Doctors were disappeared as punishment for their perceived support of antiGovernment armed groups. An employee of Zarzor hospital in an anti-Government armed group-held part of Aleppo testified about a series of disappearances targeting medical personnel carried out by the Aleppo Air Force Intelligence between June and December 2012. These disappearances appeared to be aimed at punishing doctors who provided medical services in opposition areas, and deterring others who would consider doing the same. C. A tactic of war 22. As the unrest devolved into a full-blown conflict, those affiliated or perceived to be affiliated with anti-Government armed groups became targets for disappearance. The initial arrests and abductions most often took place during Government searches of restive areas or at the checkpoints encircling those localities. 23. Bab Amr was the scene of mass arrests and disappearances during ground attacks by Government forces between February and May 2013. In March 2013, clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the national army broke out in the Homs city neighbourhood of Bab Amr. Aided by pro-Government militias, the army raided Bab Amr and abducted several residents whose location and fate remain unknown. In May 2013, campaigns of arrest took place in Hama, many of those taken remain disappeared. 24. Men were also abducted at checkpoints manned by Government-affiliated militias and popular committees. One eyewitness described how his neighbours were arrested at a checkpoint controlled by what he believed to be shabbiha, in Al Ghantoo, Homs, on 4 April 2013. Men wearing civilian clothing stopped their car and arrested a man. He was subsequently taken to an unknown location. His family does not know where to look for him. On 8 June 2013, a family of internally displaced persons was trying to make their way into Jordan when military forces positioned in the Al-Waer neighbourhood of Homs stopped their car at a checkpoint. The husband was arrested and taken to an unknown location, while his wife and children were ordered to return to their hometown, despite ongoing violence. He has not been seen or heard from since. 25. As noted in “Assault on medical care in Syria” (A/HRC/24/CRP.2), wounded civilians perceived to be affiliated with the opposition are being disappeared from hospitals. This alarming phenomenon has significantly increased over the past months. An interviewee from Nabak, Dara’a governorate, explained that due to a lack of medical facilities in FSA-controlled areas, injured civilians were forced to go to governmental hospitals, where many disappeared between April and May 2013. 39