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Regime and AANES conscription traps Syrians in Lebanon as thousands flee

Young Syrians returning from Lebanon to AANES-held northeastern Syria, like those heading for regime areas, face the threat of conscription for “self-defense duty.”


8 October 2024

ERBIL/HASAKAH — Abdullah Muhammad (a pseudonym) and his family arrived at the bus station in Syria’s northern Raqqa city on October 2. Nearing the end of an exhausting journey from Lebanon following days of terror under the threat of Israeli bombings, they sat on the ground, waiting several hours for a car to carry them onwards to Deir e-Zor.

“Our family is split apart, in two different places,” Muhammad, 50, told Syria Direct. When he fled Lebanon with his wife and four of his children, his eldest son stayed behind in Beirut. The 24-year-old could not risk coming with them because he is wanted for conscription.

Originally from the northern Deir e-Zor town of al-Kubr, Muhammad fled to Lebanon in 2013 to escape the war engulfing his country. There, he and his family settled down in a village in the Bekaa Valley, where he worked as a farmer to make ends meet. 

After a week of Israeli airstrikes in the area the family lived starting September 23—as part of the latest escalation in Tel Aviv’s war against Hezbollah—Muhammad and his family fled to Beirut. Finding no work or shelter there, “returning to Syria was the most appropriate choice,” he said. 

Khatoun Hamada Mustafa’s family was also separated when she fled Lebanon for her hometown of Raqqa city on October 1. Her husband stayed behind, “for fear of being drafted into the reserves,” she told Syria Direct

Mustafa did not hesitate to return to Syria herself, solely concerned with “saving my children’s lives,” she said. Back in Lebanon, her family lived in the country’s northeastern Hermel area. 

Between September 23 and October 5, more than 220,000 Syrians and Lebanese fled across the border into Syria. Syrians made up around 70 percent of those returning, according to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates. Before the latest displacement crisis, Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million Syrians

Most returnees headed for regime-controlled areas, while at least 1,700 people later made their way to opposition-controlled northwestern Syria, according to the Syrian Civil Defense (White Helmets). 

As of October 8, at least 18,351 people, including 58 Lebanese citizens, have entered territories in northeastern Syria held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). “The numbers increase daily,” Maryam Ibrahim, a member of the crisis cell established by the AANES on September 29 to facilitate returns, told Syria Direct

Returning to AANES areas

On September 24, the AANES’ representation in Lebanon formed a committee to assist Syrians wishing to return to northeastern Syria. For those in the Beirut area, it set the Nowruz Cultural and Social Association as a headquarters to gather families and transport them across the Syrian-Lebanese border. For Syrians living in the Bekaa Valley, it designated the square in the town of Chtoura as a gathering point, Abdulsalam Ahmad, the AANES’ representative in Lebanon, told Syria Direct

The AANES secures transportation “for an acceptable cost, paid by the passengers, to prevent exploitation by bus drivers,” Ahmad said. Once returnees enter Syrian territory, it also coordinates transportation to the Tabqa and al-Tayha (Abu Kahf) crossings into AANES territory from the northeastern Aleppo city of Manbij. From there, returnees make their own way to their final destinations. 

The administration does not cover transportation costs. Doing so would “require an administrative team and a large budget that cannot be secured in light of the growing numbers of returnees,” Ahmad said. “Large numbers [of people returning] from non-AANES areas would [also] ask us for aid and assistance.”

Many of those returning to northeastern Syria have no homes to return to. Some rely on relatives, as in the case of Mustafa and her children, who are staying with her uncle in Raqqa. For others, the AANES has set up temporary displacement shelters. 

Once returnees are registered and counted, Ibrahim said, it plans to transfer them to three displacement camps: the Nowruz camp outside al-Malikiyah (Derik), the al-Arisha camp in the Hasakah countryside and the al-Adnaniya camp in the Raqqa countryside. 

Several centers have been established for returnees to register with the AANES, including the Social Welfare Center in Raqqa, which was previously concerned with organizing returns from al-Hol, a detention camp holding the families of Islamic State (IS) members. 

Waiting to register at the Social Welfare Center, Mustafa stressed her urgent need for assistance. She wants to move to “one of the camps as soon as possible, because my uncle’s house does not have space for two families,” she said. 

So far, the AANES is receiving returnees from Lebanon and registering them, but not providing direct humanitarian aid. Local and international organizations working in the area also have yet to provide assistance, a number of returnees told Syria Direct

Commenting on that, Ibrahim, from the AANES crisis cell, acknowledged the de facto authorities’ support is “currently limited to securing shelters and then transferring them to the camps, in addition to easing their affairs.” 

Risks of return

As Israel’s war in Lebanon continues to escalate, Abdullah Muhammad’s son has two options, both fraught with danger: Remain in Beirut under the threat of airstrikes, or return to Syria and risk conscription. 

Muhammad is currently looking for a way his son can return “through smuggling,” but “one smuggler asked for $800, which I don’t have,” he said. The two are looking for another smuggler.

Damascus “does not detain those wanted for military service or the reserves as they return to Syria through official crossings,” Ahmad, the AANES representative in Lebanon, said. “They are given a 15-day period to go to the recruitment branches,” so Muhammad’s son and Khatoun’s husband would likely not be detained or taken for conscription immediately upon returning.

However, those who are wanted for political or military cases may be detained when crossing the border. “We have no solutions for them,” Ahmad said.

Kanizar Muhammad, a Syrian currently living in Beirut, said he personally knows two people—a father and son—who were detained by the regime while returning to Syria days ago. “Maybe the family had a security record,” he told Syria Direct. In such cases, the only option is to “return through smuggling routes,” he added. 

As of October 2, at least nine Syrians have been arrested and taken to detention centers in Homs and Damascus while returning from Lebanon, according to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR). 

Nour al-Khatib, the head of SNHR’S Detention and Enforced Disappearance Department, said those detained include people who crossed through both official border points and smuggling routes. The regime has ramped up its patrols and border checkpoints—in Reef Dimashq and on the Homs-Hama highway, for example— coinciding with an increase in the number of people returning from Lebanon, she told Syria Direct

SNHR has also tracked an increase in regime patrols visiting displacement shelters in Homs and Hama to question returnees about how they left Syria. Those who left irregularly are summoned to security branches, al-Khatib said. This procedure appears to be an alternative to questioning usually done at immigration and passport offices at the border, which has been delayed because of “the pressure,” she added. 

While the network has been able to document nine detentions, this likely does not reflect the actual number of people detained. Al-Khatib expects as many as 100 returnees may have been arrested.

No escape from conscription

While the fear of conscription or detention is particularly acute in regime-controlled areas, military-aged men in AANES territory also face conscription into what is known as “self-defense duty.” 

“Even if the regime does not arrest my two sons at the crossings, the AANES will force them to serve in its areas,” Fawwaz Hussein Ibrahim, 57, said. Originally from Hasakah province’s Qamishli city, he remains in Lebanon with most of his family. His daughter Fahima, 27, returned to Qamishli on September 30 and is staying with her uncle.

Maryam Ibrahim, from the AANES’ crisis cell, confirmed that young men returning from Lebanon would be conscripted for “self-defense duty” at some point after their arrival. “They will be treated the same as [all] residents in our areas,” she said, but would not be taken while crossing into AANES territory. 

The AANES defines “self-defense duty” as 12 months of “mandatory service for males from AANES areas of northeastern Syria who have completed 18 years of age.” It is a requirement for people from its areas, as well as any residents who have lived there for five years.

Kept from returning to Syria by the fear his two sons could be conscripted—whether by Damascus or the AANES—Ibrahim and his family were staying out in the open in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square when he spoke to Syria Direct on October 4. They have nowhere else to turn. The family previously lived in the Ghobeiry area of Beirut’s southern suburbs, but fled their home on September 26 after Israeli warplanes struck nearby. 

Whether remaining in Lebanon or returning to Syria, Syrians are navigating life-threatening risks. “We left Syria 11 years ago as refugees, and here we are returning as refugees,” Abdullah said at the bus station in Raqqa, boarding the car that would carry his family to Deir e-Zor.

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.

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