Syria’s Assad Issues Conditional Amnesty for Draft Dodgers

A man walks near a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad inside Ibn al-Nafis hospital in Damascus, Syria November 8, 2022. (Reuters)
A man walks near a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad inside Ibn al-Nafis hospital in Damascus, Syria November 8, 2022. (Reuters)
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Syria’s Assad Issues Conditional Amnesty for Draft Dodgers

A man walks near a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad inside Ibn al-Nafis hospital in Damascus, Syria November 8, 2022. (Reuters)
A man walks near a poster depicting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad inside Ibn al-Nafis hospital in Damascus, Syria November 8, 2022. (Reuters)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty on Wednesday that pardons draft dodgers and helps them avoid prison if they report to duty within three to four months.

Syrians who escaped the mandatory military service and are inside the country will have three months to turn themselves in, while those abroad will get four months.

The decree applies to crimes committed before Dec. 21, the presidency said.

Aid agencies have said that the fear of conscription is a major reason for refugees not wanting to return to the country, which is in the throes of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The lack of opportunity in the country also often limits the benefits of such amnesties. The government had previously issued similar amnesties during the Syrian war.

With help from Russia and Iran, Assad has reclaimed control of most of the country from an array of opposition factions, some that were backed by foreign governments and extremist militants.

The war, which spiraled out of a peaceful uprising in 2011, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and uprooted half the pre-war population.



Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Hezbollah said its fighters on Thursday fired missiles at a military base near south Israel’s Ashdod, the first time it has targeted so deep inside Israel in more than a year of hostilities.

Hezbollah fighters "targeted... for the first time, the Hatzor air base" east of the southern city, around 150 kilometers from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, "with a missile salvo," the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

A rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man and wounded two others in northern Israel on Thursday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
The service said paramedics found the body of the man in his 30s near a playground in the town of Nahariya, near the border with Lebanon, after a rocket attack on Thursday.
Israel meanwhile struck targets in southern Lebanon and several buildings south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

Israel has launched airstrikes against Lebanon after Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas' attack on Israel last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry, and over 1 million people have been displaced. It is not known how many of those killed were Hezbollah fighters and how many were civilians.
On the Israeli side, Hezbollah’s aerial attacks have killed more than 70 people and driven some 60,000 from their homes.