Young Syrian men in government-controlled areas are using any means necessary, including violent protests, to avoid military conscription — even if they support the government.
More than 80,000 soldiers and other pro-regime fighters have been killed in the four-year-old conflict, out of a total of roughly 220,000 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“I’m with the regime, but I am a deserter, because military service in Syria means death,” said George, a student from Damascus. “Very few young men accept to enlist, because at our age, no one wants to die.”
Photo: AFP
As the territory that has fallen out of regime control is predominantly Sunni Muslim, the government is heavily recruiting from among the Druze, Christian, Alawite and Ismaili minorities.
Now these communities say that they have paid a heavy price to defend Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule against deadly opponents, including al-Qaeda-linked militants and the Islamic State group.
“Even if they support the army and the regime, they’re not willing to serve its flag,” said Sema Nassar, a human rights activist from the northwest province of Latakia, a heartland for the Alawite sect from which al-Assad hails.
“Everyone without exception is discontent. After four years of an ugly war, who isn’t unhappy?” Nassar said.
Faced with a “war of attrition ... the government must use considerable coercion” to replenish its ranks, said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
“The rebels speak about being able to outlast the Alawites and kill their young men. They probably can if the war goes on long enough,” Landis said.
Sunni Muslims make up about 80 percent of Syria’s population, while Alawites constitute roughly 10 percent.
Syrian men by law are required to serve a two-year military service, which can be extended for much longer.
Hit by defections and desertions, Syria’s 300,000-strong military has halved in size since 2011, according to Aram Nerguizian, a military affairs expert from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. To reverse the trend and snare draft dodgers, military police have redoubled their efforts.
“They set up checkpoints at the entrances to cities and check the buses coming through them for young men,” said Omar al-Jeblawi, a rights advocate from Jeblah in Latakia.
He said security forces also stand guard at university gates to screen male students and teachers.
“They comb through neighborhoods and take all of the guys 18 and up,” Jeblawi told reporters by telephone.
According to George, deserters are also caught when they seek a government service, like getting married.
To avoid the draft, some have fled the country, while others have paid exorbitant bribes to officials.
In Damascus, “young men enroll in university just to get a waiver,” George said.
Others, including Sunnis, join local pro-government militias like the National Defense Force to avoid being stationed in distant provinces, Jeblawi said.
He said young men in Latakia had also set up guards around houses they thought may be raided by security forces.
The most significant resistance took place in Sweida, a southern bastion of Syria’s Druze minority.
In April, in the town of Salkhad, Abdallah Abu Mansur was arrested by local police for deserting the armed forces, a resident said. Relatives and friends then held a violent protest outside the police station.
It was the latest of many similar incidents in the province.
In December last year, residents of another town took a man hostage and broke into the office of local security forces and released a relative. In November, a mob attacked a military patrol after it had forcefully recruited someone.
And in the summer of last year, Druze religious leaders stopped a military patrol from arresting another young deserter.
In all these cases, the deserter being held was released — some say due to political considerations.
“The government doesn’t dare respond brutally, as it fears that the Druze will change sides and join the opposition,” the resident said.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS