Syria's President Assad Announces Amnesty For Draft Dodgers

Reuters: Syria's Assad announces amnesty for draft dodgers - Syrian TV

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday announced an amnesty for men at home and abroad who have dodged conscription, to help bolster the ranks of an army severely depleted by four years of battling armed insurgents.

The decree, announced on state television, pardons those who violated Syria's conscription law, an offence punishable by imprisonment and sometimes death. It underscores the government's difficulty in mobilising men to help fight a protracted war in the face of a bloody insurgency.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor that tracks violence, puts the number of draft dodgers at 70,000. The decree gives one month for those inside Syria and two months for those abroad to turn themselves into authorities.

Update: Report: Syria's Assad grants amnesty to army deserters -- Deutsche Welle

WNU Editor: This is the second amnesty that he has offered in the past year .... and like the first one .... I doubt that there will be a rush to take advantage of this new decree.