Enab Baladi – Omar Alaa Eldin
“Even if I spent my entire life in university, it would be impossible for me to raise a weapon against my cousin or relative. And if I had to redo my high school diploma, I would do it so I wouldn’t have to join the military service,” said Hussein al-Khatib, a 27-year-old student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Damascus.
Al-Khatib hails from the Jobar neighborhood in Damascus and currently lives in the Rukn al-Din area. He is now in his seventh year of civil engineering (which normally lasts five years) and has decided to complete his outstanding subjects to graduate this year following the fall of Assad’s regime.
University students residing in areas controlled by the regime suffered from the costs of delaying their studies and the fears of being conscripted into the mandatory military service of the previous regime’s army. Many preferred to fail their courses so they could postpone joining the military.
Like thousands from Jobar, al-Khatib escaped the bombardment of the previous regime’s army and the destruction that befell his neighborhood, making him determined to refuse military conscription, even if it meant fleeing or going into hiding, which could expose him to persecution or even imprisonment.
“The biggest concern that haunted me and my family was the mandatory military service; we discussed potential scenarios daily after finishing my studies in engineering,” said al-Khatib, who ultimately chose to fail his courses for two consecutive years in hopes of a “miracle to lift this nightmare.”
Al-Khatib rejected “joining an army that is addicted to crime, looting, and humiliating people’s dignity.” He said, “On top of all this, it displaced me and my family and destroyed my home. How can I belong to those who have killed me?”
The Jobar neighborhood witnessed fierce battles between opposition factions and the Syrian regime’s forces for years following 2011, during which the neighborhood endured bombardments of various types of weapons, resulting in extensive destruction of its buildings.
The regime managed to establish control over the neighborhood in April 2018 after Russia signed a settlement agreement with the al-Rahman Corps, which led to the evacuation of fighters from Eastern Ghouta to northern Syria.
Al-Khatib could not leave for northern Syria or flee the country, especially given his situation in Rukn al-Din, which was “teeming with shabiha” and intelligence agents monitoring every little detail. Additionally, his father suffered from a cancerous tumor, which required treatment and his close presence until his death in mid-2020.
The responsibilities placed on al-Khatib led him to focus on both his studies and his family. In addition to worrying about earning a livelihood for himself, his three siblings, and his mother, the specter of military service always loomed over al-Khatib, putting him in a dilemma between two choices: complete his studies to improve their income, thereby joining military service, or intentionally fail his courses, which meant a future with lower financial returns and temporary protection from military service. Naturally, al-Khatib chose the second option.
Al-Khatib says he couldn’t believe the regime had fallen. “All those nightmares that haunted me have vanished. The fear of facing my cousin in Idlib with a weapon face to face disabled my ability to think,” he added. The ethical, religious, and familial responsibilities all urged him to remain in his previous situation.
He continued, “If it weren’t for God’s grace with the fall of the regime, I would either be a soldier earning a pay that doesn’t cover two days’ meals in a service of unknown duration or a student at one of the branches of the University of Damascus, draining what remains of my years in an uncertain future and postponed dreams indefinitely.”
After the regime’s fall, the head of the transitional phase in Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa declared on December 15, 2024, an end to compulsory military service in Syria.
Unknown fate… Fear fueled by brutality
Ahmad Ibrahim, a student in the Radio and Television Department at the University of Damascus, claims that the unknown fate is what he feared most about military service, particularly concerning accounts of the previous regime’s officers’ treatment of new conscripts and the lack of appreciation for any educational qualifications among those joining military service. The most significant concern for Ibrahim, as he stated, is “the fear that my life would be taken.”
In an interview with Enab Baladi, Ibrahim confirmed that he intentionally failed certain courses, and despite his excellence, he was prepared to sacrifice some grades and years to preserve his safety in those circumstances.
Other reasons drove Ibrahim to deliberately fail his college courses, primarily his genuine fear of joining the military without return. He recounted hearing numerous stories about young men whose news vanished weeks after they enlisted.
Ibrahim hails from the al-Hajar al-Aswad area, which the previous regime deliberately marginalized in terms of services and intensified security scrutiny. He recounted the story of his uncle, who refused to beat protesters early in the revolution, being arrested and thrown into the notorious Sednaya prison. After the regime’s fall and the liberation of prisons, it became known that his uncle had been martyred in prison due to severe torture.
Many of Ibrahim’s friends at university or outside rejected military service for various reasons, including their refusal to be tools in a regime that respects neither their lives nor their convictions, and to avoid bearing arms against their relatives in northern Syria.
Many sought to hide in their homes, living life in seclusion, without documents, without a future, without work, all to avoid wearing the military uniform and participating in killing civilians, according to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim sees the fear of military conscription as a nearly collective phenomenon, adding that evasion of service is driven by the fact that the army is no longer “the army of the homeland,” but rather a means to drag individuals into a quagmire of blood and oppression. “Students are seeking a way to escape this enforced obligation because it has become less of a national duty and more of an existential threat.”
Mandatory service… A drain on society
The Syrian regime used mandatory military service as a multifaceted weapon to pressure and drain the Syrian community by imposing various pathways on those obligated to military service, whether inside or outside the country.
Those inside Syria were required to serve, as Law No. 30 of 2007 does not allow for payment of a fee within the country except for individuals with established service, which costs between 3,000 to 8,000 dollars. This opened the door to various forms of financial and administrative corruption within the Ministry of Defense and medical examination committees, according to an article by security and military affairs researcher Muhsen al-Mustafa, published by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.
The law set mandatory military service at a duration of 18 months; however, following the revolution, the Syrian regime forced conscripts to remain in military service or reserve service, making it nearly impossible to obtain discharge, which sometimes lasted 7-9 years or even longer. This, in itself, became a direct cause for evading military service or defection, according to the researcher.
The monthly salary for compulsory conscripts in the regime’s army rarely exceeded five dollars at best. Therefore, many conscripts, under the protection of officers and volunteers, engaged in illegal activities known as “looting” and extorting money at military checkpoints that cut through cities and towns on major roads.
Meanwhile, some conscripts, lured by the greed and corruption of officers, paid sums of money in exchange for performing their service from home, a process known as “tafyeesh.” This phenomenon did not emerge after 2011 but predates it significantly, according to researcher al-Mustafa.
Syrian university students get rid of military service nightmare Enab Baladi.
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