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Iraqi activists and families are circulating photographs and names of Iraqi detainees whose fates have come to light after the storming of several SyrianÌýex-regime prisons. Many of these detainees, recently freed, had long been presumed dead following their disappearance nearly twenty years ago.

There is now renewed hope for hundreds of Iraqi families who have spent years searching for any trace of their missing relatives. In the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, over three million Iraqis fled to Syria, seeking refuge from their country’s turmoil. During that period, the Syrian authorities detained numerous Iraqis for what they termed security or political reasons, subsequently leading their families to believe they had died in detention.

In recent days, Iraqi media outlets confirmed the discovery of at least one Kurdish-Iraqi detainee, identified as a former member of the Peshmerga forces named Issa Abdullah, inside one prison of the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Abdullah’s father told a local television channel they learned his name was listed among those recently freed.

Iraqi activists have documented other newly released detainees who remain in Syria. Political activist Mohammed al-Salmani said that some have contacted their families back in Iraq, but are fearful of returning. According to al-Salmani, "Both the armed factions and the government in Iraq recognise the legitimacy of trials conducted by the now-ousted Syrian regime," prompting concerns of re-arrest.

Some families, prioritising security, have chosen not to publicise their discoveries. Al-Salmani recounted a case from Anbar Province where, after years of fruitless searching, a family discovered their son, detained by the Syrian regime in 2009 while working as a trader, was alive in one of Assad’s prisons. For years they had assumed he was dead.

A senior official at Iraq’s Foreign Ministry told (°®Âþµº's Arabic edition) that the Iraqi government has not yet received any definitive information. With the Iraqi embassy in Damascus closed and staff relocated to Lebanon, verifying detainees’ statuses or negotiating their return poses a serious challenge.

In the Iraqi parliament, Mokhtar al-Mousawi, a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, told the website that his committee is following up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Migration and Displacement.

Ìý"We must ascertain the truth of these reports about Iraqi detainees found in Syrian prisons," he told Mohammed Ali, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed’s reporter in Baghdad, Ìý"So far, we only have information from social media."

Al-Mousawi stressed Iraq’s responsibility to repatriate its citizens as soon as possible. However, ongoing security developments in Syria, along with the absence of any formal communication with Syrian authorities, complicate the process.

Ìý"Investigating this matter will take time and requires stability and the re-establishment of constitutional institutions in Syria," he explained.

On Sunday, Syrian opposition factions entered the notorious Saydnaya Prison and freed many detainees.ÌýSaydnaya has long been infamous for horrific torture under the outed Syrian regime.

Iraqi researcher Sarah al-Quraishi noted that large-scale displacement following the 2003 invasion left countless Iraqis vulnerable.

"From 2006 to 2009, as Iraq experienced severe unrest, there was weakened international oversight of the Syrian regime’s conduct, facilitating arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances," she said.

"Now that Iraqi names have appeared on Syrian prison registers, the Iraqi Interior and Foreign Ministries should co-ordinate efforts to verify the detainees’ whereabouts and work towards bringing them home," al-Quraishi added.

In northern Iraq, General Bakhtiyar Omar, Secretary-General of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, said they are using personal connections to locate missing Kurdish Iraqis believed to be held in Syrian regime prisons. He pointed to figures such as Irfan Abdulaziz, leader of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement, who may have useful ties with groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

"We will do everything we can, through our contacts and acquaintances in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, to pursue this matter,"ÌýAbdulaziz told local media.