Syria’s Assad announces amnesty for army deserters and draft-dodgers

Military deserters have been offered an amnesty by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The president, speaking on state TV, said those who violated the country’s compulsory military conscription law, would not face legal penalties. The move could apply to thousands of army deserters and draft-dodgers outside and inside Syria. The Syrian army, one of the region’s largest, has been overstretched by a four-year long insurgency where it is battling on several major fronts Islamist rebels and ultra-hardline jihadist militants who have seized large swathes of territory.

With our army we win our country.

Street signs urging people to do their duty

The army has been forced in recent months to withdraw from large parts of the north-western province of Idlib in the face of an assault by a coalition of Islamist brigades and was unable to defend the desert city of Palmyra in central Syria, when it was overrun by Islamic State. Some diplomats say the army is now focused on defending strategic areas like Damascus, Homs and strongholds of Assad’s minority Alawite sect in coastal areas.

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