Assad grants amnesty for army dodgers, deserters

Syrian President Bashar Assad granted amnesty on Saturday for people in the war-torn country who have dodged military service or deserted, state news agency SANA reported.

According to SANA, Assad issued a decree “which grants a general amnesty to those who deserted and are still in or have fled Syria”.

The special decree is the second amnesty in just over a year. It stipulates that deserters who fled the country have two months to hand themselves in, while those still inside Syria have one month. There were no details given for draft dodgers.

The amnesty wipes away “the entire punishment for those who fled inside Syria, as explained in article 100 of the military penal code,” and “those who have fled the country (crossed the borders), as explained in article 101”.

The articles do not, however, refer to army members who joined the ranks of “the enemy,” or who used their weapons against orders.

A military source told AFP that the decree “only includes those who deserted and who did not participate in military activities after their desertion or stain their hands with blood.”

Syria’s four-year civil war has stretched the government’s dwindling army, which is battling rebels and jihadist groups.

In early July, Damascus launched a mass public campaign to encourage citizens to enlist in the army.

More than 80,000 soldiers and pro-government militiamen have been killed since the beginning of Syria’s conflict in March 2011, making up more than a third of the war’s total toll of 230,000, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 70,000 men have also dodged military service throughout the country, the Britain-based Observatory said.

The deaths, desertions, defections, and difficulties in enlisting new recruits have more than halved the army’s size since 2011, experts say.

Assad has issued similar amnesties for criminals, but has not released any of the thousands of political prisoners believed to be in Syria’s prisons.