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WSJ, August 6 2016
Syria Regime Drafts Prisoners, Teachers to Bolster Depleted Army
State workers are being pressed into battle as President Bashar
al-Assad’s regime tries to take advantage of Russian support
By RAJA ABDULRAHIM
Prisoners in the sweltering, overcrowded Adra prison on the outskirts of
Damascus were presented in June with an unusual offer from the Syrian
regime, which promised amnesty if they agreed to fight on the front lines.
About 200 inmates decided to risk their fate on the battlefield rather
than serve out long sentences in dismal conditions, according to army
officers, a lawyer who represented some of the prisoners and other
people with knowledge of the deals.
Even as airstrikes by the regime’s Russian allies bolster its fortunes,
the Syrian military’s ranks are severely diminished by death, defection
and draft dodgers, and stretched thin on multiple fronts. As a result,
it is not only freeing prisoners but also ordering state employees and
teachers into battle.
Checkpoints in cities are increasingly manned by minors, older men or
young men with medical conditions that should exempt them from military
service. Residents in Damascus have reported seeing even Russian, Afghan
and other foreign soldiers at checkpoints, something that was unheard of
until this year.
The mass enlistment, though meant to address a weakness, reflects the
ambitions of an emboldened regime that is benefiting from strong support
from Russia, Iran and allied Shiite militias, and is trying to maintain
its own forces.
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is looking to extend its reach beyond
its core areas of control, for which it needs large numbers of fighters.
The regime, which has lost control of much of Syrian territory to
opposition rebels, Islamic State militants and Kurds, is intent on
keeping at least a foothold in every province.
“They have tried just about everything they can think of to fill that
deficit and still they don’t have enough. So we see these periodic
recruiting drives,” said Jeff White, a defense analyst at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy.
Last month, regime forces backed by fighters from the Lebanese Shiite
group Hezbollah and Russian airstrikes succeeded in fully encircling the
rebel-held half of Aleppo, laying siege to an estimated 300,000
civilians and rebels in an attempt to force the fighters to surrender.
On Sunday, rebels launched a counteroffensive to open a corridor into
the besieged neighborhoods and are now pitted against some of the
fighters swept up in the regime’s recent efforts to boost its ranks.
World leaders who have long called for Mr. Assad’s removal are now more
focused on defeating the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and
dealing with a wave of militant attacks across Europe and the U.S.
Washington’s once firm stance against the regime has softened as it
proposes close military coordination with Mr. Assad’s strongest military
backer, Russia.
“They seem more relaxed,” a Western diplomat who visits Syria regularly
said of the regime. “The overall context is in their favor.”
Last year, the outlook for the regime appeared bleak amid a string of
defeats at the hands of rebels. But Russia’s military intervention in
September changed the regime’s fortunes and its tone. The regime staved
off rebel advances and launched military operations in areas where it
had been on the defensive, including in Aleppo.
In June, Mr. Assad vowed to take back “every inch” of Syria.
“What is happening is simply the Syrian army has been given a big
advantage, which is the Russian military intervention,” said Yezid
Sayigh, an associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center. “The Syrian
regime has always been fighting for the whole of Syria. The regime now
still faces a long fight, but it’s gradually increasing its edge over
the opposition.”
Syria’s army before the 2011 conflict was estimated to have 400,000
soldiers and officers. Now, Global Firepower, a military analysis
website, puts Syria’s regular army at only 180,000. The site also says
that there are 570,000 active reserve personnel. Many of the reservists
join the National Defense Forces or one of many other pro-government
militias.
Thousands of state employees and teachers have been ordered to become
part of the regime’s security apparatus and told that their salaries
will be withheld if they refuse, according to state employees and
anti-government activists.
Three months ago in northeastern Hasakah province, hundreds of state
employees were ordered to report for brief military training. They were
taught how to assemble and shoot Russian-made weapons and how to conduct
raids, and they were given uniforms with the slogan, “We are Assad’s
soldiers,” one of the employees said.
Amnesty offers have been made at other prisons in addition to Adra, but
have been widely rejected, opposition activists said.
Shiite fighters from Hezbollah, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Iraqi
militias and Afghan mercenaries have played a crucial role in enabling
the regime to survive but most estimates put their ranks at only a few
thousand.
For years, checkpoints in government-controlled cities have been used to
sweep up men between the ages of 18 and 42, because so many of them are
dodging the draft. Men under 42 who have already served are increasingly
being called up for reserve duty.
“They are calling more and more reserves,” the Western diplomat said.
Men, in turn, often avoid checkpoints, either traveling by foot or
rarely leaving the house.
The regime has resorted to erecting temporary checkpoints to catch
unsuspecting men or even conducting home raids to find those who are wanted.
Jaber, a 30-year-old hair stylist, rode in a bus and crossed the same
checkpoint every day for years. But on a recent morning, he said,
soldiers at the checkpoint called his name.
He spent two weeks in a military training camp before being told he
would be sent to eastern Deir Ezzour province to fight Islamic State
militants. Desperate to avoid battle, he paid a $5,000 bribe.
That was once enough to get out of military service altogether. But now,
it was only enough to get him a desk job in Damascus with open-ended
reserve duty.
—Noam Raydan in Beirut and correspondents in Damascus contributed to
this article.
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