Perspective: 30 Months a Slave, by Fathi Ibrahim Bayoud

(Zaman Alwasl- perspective)- It is injustice to say all Syrian regime’s soldiers are slaves, at least that what a 30-month experience taught me when I was a soldier who shared his arms comrades their ever worst years in military barracks where corruption, humiliation and rusty armory prevailing the nasty space.

 As any average Syrian, who is doing his compulsory military service, I’ve been through painful and unforgettable memories that made by unscrupulous officers.

On June 10, 2000, Syrians were on a date with unbelievable news; the ‘Immortal Leader’ Hafez al-Assad had died after 37 years of dictatorship since his coup on March 8, 1963.

A story of Intelligence prosecution had been started with that date me as I was a brittle and indifferent soldier who had not shed so many tears for the ‘Great Loss’.   

I owe thanks for that agent who was kind with me, perhaps because we both were from the same city of Homs. He told me that many secret reports had been filed against me and now he is charged to write another report. I firmly said, fearing of dark torture chambers, " please deliver my deepest love and devotion to the beloved leader Bashar al-Assad as well my deepest grieve over the great loss of our immortal leader,’’ then I sighed.

It was great shock to flick online numerous images for slain soldiers, who were beheaded by the radical Islamic State (IS) in Raqqa after storming Division 17, Assad’s last stronghold east Syria.

As many, I know that most of the poor soldiers have not had a command of something; they are victims of Assad’s regime too.

The pace of military defections has been dwindled in the last two years not because the setbacks undermining the Syrian revolution but also because the enormous presence of radical groups which are killing both sides, regime Army and moderate armed opposition.

Zaman Alwasl has received many calls and messages by families of missing soldiers asking help to know their destiny, saying ‘our boys have been driven to war by force and coercion unlike the sectarian militias that backed Assad’s regime.”

Zaman Alwasl is for all Syrians regardless sect and ideology; we are simply against the injustice as the Syrian revolution erupted against all forms of slavery, humiliation or dependency for a person or a movement. .

Mercy to the martyrs of Syria and Gaza