ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A family of six from Kobane was released after being held for hostage a week in Syria's Homs province following negotiations that ended with a $15,000 ransom payment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) in a report that the family, comprising a mother, father, and their four children, was kidnapped while attempting to cross into Lebanon through the countryside of Homs in search of safety.

According to the monitor, intensive negotiations with the kidnappers led to their release in exchange for $15,000. The abductors had initially demanded $36,000. The family is now returning to Kobane.

The family had left the Kurdish city on February 12 due to the continued siege of the city and planned to travel through Homs into Lebanon, with the aim of eventually reaching Germany.

The children’s father, Abdullah Habash, said he had contacted a man who claimed he could arrange safe passage to Lebanon. He later discovered the individual was affiliated with a human trafficking network.

SOHR said the incident reflects the growing activity of kidnapping and human trafficking gangs operating along smuggling routes and illegal crossings in Syria, particularly those used by civilians fleeing conflict.

Rights groups warn that deteriorating security conditions have enabled such networks to exploit vulnerable families seeking safety abroad.

Recent conflict in Kobane and Rojava (northeast Syria) ushered in a wave of instability and worsened humanitarian conditions, with Kurdish-majority areas grappling with an offensive by state forces seeking to end Kurdish-led autonomous rule.

The violence wound down in late January with the signing of a new ceasefire and integration agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus government, which has Syrian state elements assume a limited presence in Rojava areas.

Rojava-based media reported on Sunday that a 12-year old Kurdish child died in Kobane due to the inability to transfer him to Aleppo as a suffocating, Damascus-imposed siege persists despite the deescalation in tensions.

His death came three days after an eight-year-old displaced Kurdish child died in Kobane due to a lack of medication and dire conditions in the city. 

Earlier, a Rojava official told The New Region that the agreement with Damascus “has not brought about any practical change to Kobane,” with the city remaining besieged and lacking basic necessities. 

In late January, the Kurdish Red Crescent in Rojava reported that at least five children in Kobane had died due to extreme cold and a shortage of medical supplies.