Reporting by Mohamed Yateem; Translation by Yusra Ahmed
(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime has been recruiting civilians and government employees to fight alongside the army that suffers severe shortage in manpower.
For that, the army has opened number of recruiting camps where thousands of employees are following a military training.
A source based in Shamsin camp reported to Zaman Al Wasl that almost 600 volunteers were in the camp, mix of civilians and employees were taken from their institutions to fight on the battlefronts, confirming that they would not be distributed on regime's checkpoints in Hama.
According to the source, the volunteers from Hama city, would be distributed over barriers in Hama for 10 days only, then they would be sent to fronts in the coast, north and south countryside of Aleppo, countryside of Hama, where the regime loses lots of soldiers and fighters, mentioning that a group of fighters were sent to Tadmor front, but no one came back, as all of them were killed in the last unsuccessful battle of the regime.
Each governmental directorate in Hama send names of its employees to the security division in Hama to recruit them in the "voluntary service” even if that resulted in closing all the government offices, then employees are given 15 day-notice to join Shamsin camp, and if they did not do that, they would be sacked from work.
One of the volunteers reported that a state of anger prevails the camp, especially toward officers and because of lack of food.
“it is a camp for starvation and deprivation, we only have 6 olives for breakfast and 25kg of potatoes for another meal for the whole camp”, the source detailed.
The volunteer mentioned that once the director of the camp told the trainees that they are not forced to stay in the camp and they could leave if they wanted, that encouraged 300 members to leave, which shocked the security officers, who forced them to return.
When the Syrian eruption began in 2011, the Armed Forces were sent to fight the insurgents, many of them died, and many others began to defect from the national Army and came together under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.In March 2012, the Syrian government issued new travel restrictions for military-aged males (18-42).
The Syrian Armed Forces counted in 2011 before the war about 295 thousands, among them 220 Army personnel, while in 2014, it dropped to 178 thousands, and army personnel dropped to the half at 110 thousands.
The Syria n Army has been supported by Hezbollah militia, which counted almost 10,000 in Syria.
Despite shrinking by nearly half since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, the Armed Forces has become much more flexible and capable, especially in anti-guerilla warfare, as moved conventional military model into a force of smaller groups against guerrilla with an increasing role of junior officers.
By the beginning of 2013, the Syrian government started re-forming hundreds of Popular Committee militias under a new name: National Defence Forces.
The goal was to form an effective, locally based, highly motivated force from the pro-regime communities. The NDF, in contrast with the Shabiha forces, received salaries and military equipment from the government, which encouraged Shabiha to join.
NDF was attractive to young and unemployed men because it more flexible than the army and profitable. A number of recruits say joined the group because members of their families had been killed by rebel groups. In some Alawite villages almost every military age male joined the National Defence Force.
Others, like the Druze people of Swieda province join to protect their land from the Islamic State (ISIS)
In late June 2015, the Syrian government began arming citizens of some provinces to fight ISIS, who were harassing the local population with abductions, executions, and plundering.
The creation of the NDF was personally overseen by Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Suleimani. Syrian security officials admitted that they received assistance from Iran and Hezbollah, who both "played a key role in the formalization of the NDF.
NDF directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running operations in coordination with the army which provides them logistical and artillery support.
NDF units mostly operate in their local areas, although members can also choose to take part in army operations in other places, while others claimed that the NDF does most of the fighting because they know their local areas and regions.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime has been recruiting civilians and government employees to fight alongside the army that suffers severe shortage in manpower.
For that, the army has opened number of recruiting camps where thousands of employees are following a military training.
A source based in Shamsin camp reported to Zaman Al Wasl that almost 600 volunteers were in the camp, mix of civilians and employees were taken from their institutions to fight on the battlefronts, confirming that they would not be distributed on regime's checkpoints in Hama.
According to the source, the volunteers from Hama city, would be distributed over barriers in Hama for 10 days only, then they would be sent to fronts in the coast, north and south countryside of Aleppo, countryside of Hama, where the regime loses lots of soldiers and fighters, mentioning that a group of fighters were sent to Tadmor front, but no one came back, as all of them were killed in the last unsuccessful battle of the regime.
Each governmental directorate in Hama send names of its employees to the security division in Hama to recruit them in the "voluntary service” even if that resulted in closing all the government offices, then employees are given 15 day-notice to join Shamsin camp, and if they did not do that, they would be sacked from work.
One of the volunteers reported that a state of anger prevails the camp, especially toward officers and because of lack of food.
“it is a camp for starvation and deprivation, we only have 6 olives for breakfast and 25kg of potatoes for another meal for the whole camp”, the source detailed.
The volunteer mentioned that once the director of the camp told the trainees that they are not forced to stay in the camp and they could leave if they wanted, that encouraged 300 members to leave, which shocked the security officers, who forced them to return.
When the Syrian eruption began in 2011, the Armed Forces were sent to fight the insurgents, many of them died, and many others began to defect from the national Army and came together under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.In March 2012, the Syrian government issued new travel restrictions for military-aged males (18-42).
The Syrian Armed Forces counted in 2011 before the war about 295 thousands, among them 220 Army personnel, while in 2014, it dropped to 178 thousands, and army personnel dropped to the half at 110 thousands.
The Syria n Army has been supported by Hezbollah militia, which counted almost 10,000 in Syria.
Despite shrinking by nearly half since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, the Armed Forces has become much more flexible and capable, especially in anti-guerilla warfare, as moved conventional military model into a force of smaller groups against guerrilla with an increasing role of junior officers.
By the beginning of 2013, the Syrian government started re-forming hundreds of Popular Committee militias under a new name: National Defence Forces.
The goal was to form an effective, locally based, highly motivated force from the pro-regime communities. The NDF, in contrast with the Shabiha forces, received salaries and military equipment from the government, which encouraged Shabiha to join.
NDF was attractive to young and unemployed men because it more flexible than the army and profitable. A number of recruits say joined the group because members of their families had been killed by rebel groups. In some Alawite villages almost every military age male joined the National Defence Force.
Others, like the Druze people of Swieda province join to protect their land from the Islamic State (ISIS)
In late June 2015, the Syrian government began arming citizens of some provinces to fight ISIS, who were harassing the local population with abductions, executions, and plundering.
The creation of the NDF was personally overseen by Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Suleimani. Syrian security officials admitted that they received assistance from Iran and Hezbollah, who both "played a key role in the formalization of the NDF.
NDF directly fighting against rebels on the ground and running operations in coordination with the army which provides them logistical and artillery support.
NDF units mostly operate in their local areas, although members can also choose to take part in army operations in other places, while others claimed that the NDF does most of the fighting because they know their local areas and regions.
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