Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria ease conscription conditions

The Kurdish-led authorities in north and east Syria "made this change because it was the will of the people," one official said.
Conscripted men line up during a military ceremony in northeast Syria. (Photo: AANES Committee for Defense and Self-Defense)
Conscripted men line up during a military ceremony in northeast Syria. (Photo: AANES Committee for Defense and Self-Defense)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria on Saturday announced that men born between 1990-1997 will be exempt from military service in northeast Syria.

“This decision does not affect those currently performing this duty, those in the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] & Asayish, nor those born 1998-2003,” the Syria-based Rojava Information Centre (RIC) said.

RIC quoted Mazlum Sido, co-Chair of the Defense Office in the Jazeera region, as saying that they “made this change because it was the will of the people. We had different meetings with different actors and the decision was taken."

Since November 2014, the Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syria have enforced military conscription for military-aged men of all ethnicities, a decision unpopular among local Kurds and Arabs alike.

Growing frustration over worsening economic conditions on top of forced military service in the region might have pressured local authorities to ease the conditions for conscription, officially called the “duty for self-defense.”

In June, authorities in Manbij decided to halt military conscription in the town after violent protests. Shortly after, AANES suspended the measure for military-aged men from areas occupied by Turkey in the northeast.

Last year, the authorities announced that Syrians living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq could return to northeastern Syria without serving as conscripts by paying a yearly fee.