The Assad regime’s security forces on Wednesday detained 13 army deserters in Deir Ezzor province although they previously reconciled with the regime to avoid reprisal.
Local activists said that members of the Assad regime’s military security raided the village of Taybeh near the town of Al-Mayadin and detained the army defectors on charges of ‘treason.’ The charge is one of many accusations the Assad regime usually levels against opponents and dissidents who suffer eventual execution.
Activists pointed out that the detainees had defected from the Assad regime forces between 2012 and 2013. They said that all those who agreed to reconcile with the Assad regime are liable to arrest, which indicates that these co-called reconciliation agreements were but a decoy used by the regime to punish its opponents.
The Assad regime has escalated raids and arrests in several parts of Deir Ezzor in recent weeks, rounding up dozens of people to take them into the compulsory military service.
In Dara’a province, the Assad regime has recently launched a large-scale arrest campaign in the province and arrested at least 70 people to take them into the compulsory military service.
The Documentation Office monitoring group said that the arrests targeted former FSA fighters who were forced to resettle their status with the regime. They also targeted military-aged men and draft dodgers.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that the arrests exposed the real intentions of the Assad regime and its insistence on pursuing a bloody military solution.
The Coalition added that the Assad regime is using the Syrian youth as cannon fodder in the war it has waged against the Syrian people since 2011, pointing out that the purpose of these arrests is to enable the regime to cling to power at all costs. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
