‘It’d be certain death’: After surviving years of war, Syrian Kurds now flee to Iraq fearing Assad’s draft
Families with boys of conscription age are
sending their children to Iraq, hoping to spare them from fighting in
Syria’s bloody war, Bel Trew reports
The parents of the
Kurdish-Syrian teenager had survived years of war but began to panic
when they heard rumours military conscription teams were coming to town.
So, they paid a smuggler $200 and sent their oldest son, Mohamed, who was about to turn 18, from the border town of Kobani 350km east to northern Iraq.
For most of the nine-year civil war, being drafted into the army of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had not been a concern for the inhabitants of the Kurdish-controlled northeast of the country.
So, they paid a smuggler $200 and sent their oldest son, Mohamed, who was about to turn 18, from the border town of Kobani 350km east to northern Iraq.
For most of the nine-year civil war, being drafted into the army of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had not been a concern for the inhabitants of the Kurdish-controlled northeast of the country.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-war-assad-conscription-draft-army-iraq-kurds-a9298666.html
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