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It has become inventible for the population of Deir Ezzor to remain caught between Daesh and Assad’s forces, amid the issued conscription programs by both parties in their controlled territory in the province and its countryside, mainly after the losses and shortage of manpower they are facing due to the ongoing clashes in the region. Assad’s forced recruitment has begun since mid-January 2016 during which clashes between Assad’s forces and the organization intensified to reach the area of Ayash and the village of Al-Bughayliya to the Ruwad Villas, the Furat Al-Sham Hotel and the Talai’ camp.
Since the forced conscription was issued, civilians in Al-Joura, Al-Qusour and Harrabish neighborhoods have been forced to remain in their homes for fear of daily mandatory conscription campaigns.
Assad’s forces are using the recruits to do labor works, such as digging trenches, filling bags with sand to establish barricades on the frontlines in the neighborhoods of the city. They are transported to the fronts while being blindfolded. On the other hand, Daesh has recently started its own forced conscription program to compete against Assad in the recruitment of civilians, as it announced days ago what it called ‘The General Departure For War (Al-Nafir Al-Aam) and distributed leaflets to the civilians in towns in the countryside and the city containing its message.
The Daesh’s forced recruitment program dictates that any civilian whose age ranges from 20 to 30 must register at its checkpoints. According to its released statement, the recruits will undergo Sharia and military sessions and then they will be deployed to fight alongside the organization at the fronts, warning them of severe consequences, which include forcing the recruits to fight, if they do not register in a one-week deadline.