The first ransom demand came in a text message on Sami al-Izoo’s phone 10 days after he witnessed his brother being kidnapped, forced into a truck with dark tinted windows by six masked men.

Next came a video in which he said his brother, Abdulrazaq al-Izoo, 60, appeared with his hands tied and a black bag over his head, screaming as he was hit with a stick. Since then, the videos and threats have continued to buzz al-Izoo’s phone as he struggles to raise the $400,000 that the kidnappers want.

Al-Izoo is not rich and says he does not know why his brother was targeted.

He sold a couple of cars and is trying to sell his land, but he doubts that will be enough to cover the enormous sum. “If I sell everything I have, I won’t reach that amount,” he said from his home in Talbiseh, a suburb of the city of Homs, in central Syria.

The abduction is one of a spate of kidnappings in Syria since the rebel coalition that ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December took over. One of its first acts was to dismiss — at least temporarily — all government police and security officials.

The security forces were instruments of al-Assad’s oppressive regime, but some Syrians have criticised the decision to dissolve them.

Though the new government has replaced some of the officials with its own members and quickly trained police officers, that force cannot sufficiently cover the country.

Sectarian tensions, opportunistic crime and desire for revenge have converged amid a security vacuum that has left many Syrians afraid to go out at night.

Kidnappings — whether for ransom or revenge — happened in more than 13 years of civil war, but the situation poses a major test of the new government’s ability to keep the country stable.

The risk of upheaval was further highlighted in recent days as clashes between government security forces and gunmen loyal to the Assad regime erupted in Syria’s coastal region, with scores of people reported killed.

It is unclear how many people have been abducted over the past three months and who is behind the kidnappings. But family members and groups that monitor events in Syria have reported at least a dozen episodes around the country.

Syrians are demanding more police officers and checkpoints in the streets to crack down. “They have to show their strength,” al-Izoo said of the new leaders. “They need to assert their authority and presence.”

New York Times News Service