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The opening of former Syrian regime prisons and the release of detainees has brought fresh hope to many Palestinians in the West Bank who have been fighting for years for information on the fate of their detained and missing relatives.

Social media has been buzzing with pleas from the families of Palestinians believed to be detained in Syria, many of whom have shared posts about their relatives who have been missing in some cases for decades.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime on Sunday after opposition rebels seized Damascus, scores of those imprisoned under the regime have been released, including Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Palestinian former detainees.

Former Palestinian prisoner Ibrahim Freihat, 70, was released from a Syrian prison 17 years after his arrest and has made contact with his family who live in al-Yamun village, northwest of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

His son, Walid Freihat, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, °®Âþµº's Arabic-language sister edition, that his father, who also holds Jordanian citizenship, had disappeared while working as a taxi driver on the Amman-Damascus-Beirut route.

For nearly six years, the family knew nothing about his whereabouts or what had happened to him.

Walid said his family was later approached and extorted financially by Syrian individuals who demanded money in exchange for information on his father.

However, the family later discovered that most of the information they were given was inaccurate.

"Later, a Syrian officer contacted us and asked for $1,500. But he gave the family information about my father's prison location and delivered a message from him containing details which confirmed it was him".

The officer promised to help the family, informing them Ibrahim was in Adra Central Prison, and telling them when he was transferred to Saydnaya prison.

However, later the family lost contact with the officer and "we didn't learn anything else about my father until his release," said Walid.

[Post reads "Talal Ahmed Qasem Makhoul from Attil village north of Tulkarm, missing in Syria since 1982" and requests any information]

On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was monitoring the situation for all Palestinians residing in Syria, through its Damascus embassy.

It emphasised it was following up on the issue of Palestinian detainees, gathering as much information as possible on them to track their status and reassure their families.

However, neither the ministry nor the embassy have any information regarding Palestinian detainees in Syrian prisons and are relying on families contacting them to enquire about their loved ones – or information given by those released - according to the Embassy in a statement to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Bashar Yahya, 62, from al-Arqa village west of Jenin, was imprisoned by the Syrian regime in 1985 for "illegal entry" after he was travelling to join Palestinian factions there.

He was freed on Monday morning when the Syrian rebels opened Adra prison close to Damascus, leaving his family overjoyed.

His brother, Muhannad Yahya, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Bashar is currently being held by the Jordanian intelligence services for interrogation.

Nadera Makhoul, however, is still waiting desperately for news of her brother Talal who disappeared in 1982.

Born in 1960 and from Attil village in Tulkarm governorate, Talal went missing with two friends. The family eventually learned the three were arrested by the Syrian regime from an apartment in Lebanon.

All three were members of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and affiliated with the Fatah movement.

The family have never learned anything further about Talal’s disappearance, but since the Syrian rebels ousted the Assad regime and opened the prisons, Nadera has published an appeal requesting any information about him and has been closely following all matters related to the detainees and prisons in Syria.

This is an from our Arabic edition