Until recently, the woman in her 40s, who asked that DW not use her full name for security reasons, lived in Damascus, the country's capital.
She and her family are Alawites, from the same religious sect as former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and are often the target of attacks because they are seen as allies of Assad.
"But we never supported him. His father killed members of my family. In fact, we hated him," she tells DW.
Still, Layla describes feeling fear when rebel groups, which she calls "extremists," entered Damascus in 2024 for the first time after the fall of the Assad regime.
At first, she and her husband decided to stay in Syria. But then a stranger knocked on the door. "He said he knew my daughter played the piano and took dancing lessons. 'You should stop that. If you don't stop, maybe we'll take her to her sisters', he continued," says Layla.
In conservative Islamic circles, it is frowned upon for women to play musical instruments and dance in public.
And Layla had already heard about the so-called "sisters' house" – she had read online that it was a place where Syrian women from other sects were forced to convert to Islam. A few days later, the family decided to leave the country. Now, they are in Lebanon.
"I just don't want my kids to grow up like this," explains Layla.
Another example of the type of rumor circulating is that women from minority communities are being sold as sexual slaves — Photo: Elisa Gestri/Sipa USA/picture alliance
The 'sisters' house'
News about the "sisters' house" began to cause widespread repercussions in Syria in May. It all started after the family of Batoul Alloush, a 21-year-old Alawite university student, reported her missing, possibly due to kidnapping.
The young woman later reappeared wearing religious attire and stating that she had left her family to convert to Islam. There were already other reports of missing women, including from the Alawite minority.
Reham Suleiman, a psychologist who works for the United Nations and with the Alawite community, explains to DW that she has first-hand knowledge of several cases of kidnapping.
“And this is not just an isolated incident or a coincidence,” he says. According to Suleiman, there is evidence that some of these women were kidnapped for ransom, for revenge or to be forced into marriage.
But other cases apparently were closed after women reported visiting friends, seeking to escape their families or eloping with a romantic partner.
Alloush herself declared that she wanted to convert to Islam and leave her family. Her parents, however, claim that the young woman was drugged or forced to act against her will.
Entities such as Amnesty International and the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria claim that the cases – whose number varies between 40 and 60 – have not been fully investigated.
Contradictory information
People protest against the murder of civilians and security forces linked to Syria's new rulers, after clashes between forces loyal to the new administration and fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, in Marjeh Square, in Damascus, Syria, March 9, 2025. — Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syrian authorities actually investigated the "sisters' house."
A spokeswoman for Syria's Minister of Social Affairs, Hind Kabawat, told DW that the ministry did not grant a license to any institution of that name and that any such centers that did not have a license would be closed.
Syrian news checking agencies such as Verify-Sy discovered that photos of the supposed "sisters' house" building were created with artificial intelligence.
"A constant stream of unproven allegations circulates daily about alleged kidnappings and murders, arrests and cases of torture in detention centers," a Verify-Sy spokesperson told DW.
"Checking much of this information is challenging when the evidence available in open sources is sparse, contradictory, or otherwise insufficient."
Therefore, it is unclear whether the "sisters' house" exists at all. But, whether real or not, some groups appear to have exploited it for their own interests, as the independent media outlet Shaam News Network (SNN) recently reported.
"Despite the absence of any physical evidence, social media platforms and pages began touting 'the house' as a proven fact," SNN said. "And this gradually became the focus of broader narratives about the 'organized kidnapping' of Alawite women."
Foreign influencers
Leader of the group that took power in Syria calls on the population to celebrate the end of the Assad dictatorship — Photo: Jornal Nacional/ Reproduction
A private entity called the Syrian Investigative Mechanism (SIM), founded in May 2026, associates the "house of sisters" with a Muslim organization that carries out proselytizing activities to attract new converts.
SIM alleged that the missing women were coerced into converting and kept in the "house".
In an interview on YouTube, SIM director Yasir Saleti, who lives in Germany, claims there is evidence of "demographic engineering". SIM did not respond to DW's requests for further comment.
A Berlin-based organization, the Union of Syrian Alawites in Europe (USAE), has also repeatedly posted about the "sisters' house."
On his personal Facebook page, Muaiad Ibrahim, who is listed as deputy director of USAE in official court documents, regularly criticizes the new Syrian government. He recently expressed support for Syria's greatest religious leader during the Assad regime, Ahmed Hassoun.
In late August, Hassoun was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of incitement to civil war and complicity in intentional homicide.
Other recently created foreign organizations – including some that claim to have a network of millions of human rights defenders, but whose links lead to incomplete websites – have also repeatedly released stories about the so-called "house of sisters".
The Arab investigative journalism agency DARAJ highlights that some of these organizations have been criticized for their apparent support for the Assad regime.
Damage caused
“This kind of information comes and goes in waves, but it has a real impact and is quite powerful,” says Gregory Waters, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who has traveled extensively in Syria and follows developments there through his website, Syria Revisited.
"There is a political intention in this to isolate the Alawites, to instill fear in them and prevent them from interacting with the government and Sunnis, and perhaps, to some extent, lead them to become closer to insurgent [anti-government] networks."
Online propaganda feeds off real events in minority communities, further inflating fears that already exist, he says.
Verify Sy conducts a monthly audit of online misinformation. Researchers from the organization say that incitement is the second most common objective.
According to Waters, Syrian authorities have been trying to control local influencers who spread disinformation, although they obviously cannot exert influence over those abroad.
As elsewhere in the world, there is a wide range of opinions within each Syrian community, notes Waters.
"There are those who insist that there is an ethnic cleansing program, and there are others who say that life is good, that we are fully integrated into the State."
Although this depends on the region of the country in question, he does not believe that relations between different communities are getting worse. “In Syria, everything is specific to the local environment,” explains Waters.
"So in some places, we could say that the barriers between communities have become more rigid in the last two years and that there has been little progress in reducing those barriers. But even so, these barriers are not getting higher."
Stability before everything
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a meeting in Russia on October 15 — Photo: Sputnik/Sergey Bobylyov/Pool via Reuters
For Naseef Naeem, director of research at the Berlin-based Candid Foundation, at the moment, generally speaking, the government in Damascus is busy establishing institutions, taking control of the security situation and trying to stabilize the country.
The entity's expert, which provides consultancy on Syrian issues, adds that, sooner or later, Syria will need a broader national dialogue between different community groups.
Meanwhile, both he and Waters believe that the Syrian economy, devastated after years of war, could hold the key to better relations. “Once the economic recovery really begins, many of these phenomena will gradually disappear,” says Naeem.
For example, Waters points out, during the summer, many local tourists, many of them Sunnis, went to the Syrian coast, a region where many Alawites live. “There was a huge tourist boom,” he explains.
"Everyone is interacting, and friends who are there tell me there has been no harassment or violence. The government and security authorities have really put an emphasis on supporting the tourism sector in coastal areas this year, and that has had a very positive impact."
