The Assad regime renewed its random arrests of civilians in the areas under its control in rural Deir Ezzor as it rounded up military-aged men to take them into forced military service. The campaign prompted many young people to flee their areas.
Furat Post news network reported that the arrest campaign is the largest since the Assad regime regained control of large parts of the province from ISIS more than a year ago.
Local activists said that the latest of the arrests took place in the town of Al-Ashara in eastern rural Deir Ezzor, while many civilians managed to flee to the areas controlled by the PYD militias.
The town of Subaikhan in eastern rural Deir Ezzor witnessed similar arrests in the past two days targeting the military-aged men and army deserters.
The Assad regime forces also carried out arrests in the town of Qoriyya in the past two days, detaining at least 20 people. Many young men managed to flee the town after they crossed the Euphrates River.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that these acts against civilians and those who are deceived by the Assad regime’s so-called reconciliation agreements demonstrated the falsity of the regime’s promises. It stressed that those agreements were only traps designed to lure and detain civilians.
The Assad regime has recently stepped up the rounding up of young people in the areas that fell under its control. The arrests did not spare those who entered into so-called “reconciliation deals” with the regime which violated all agreements in different areas across Syria. (Source Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)