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.
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so