Protesting mandatory conscription | Residents in Manbij city start general strike

Syrian Observatory activists say that the residents of Manbij city, which is under the control of Manbij Military Council in the north-eastern countryside of Aleppo, have started a general strike, protesting the decision of mandatory conscription in areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration and the recent military campaign which led to the arrest of hundreds of people who has been driven to military service.

 

On May 28, SDF-military police continued the obligatory recruitment campaigns under the name of “self-defense duty”. The campaign targeted those born from 1990 to 2003 where the military police chase the adults in their houses and arrest those civil documents and enrollments issued by the SDF institutions.

 

Syrian Observatory activists monitored the spread of patrols in the Autonomous Administration areas in general, where hundreds of adults had been arrested in the past few days in Raqqa, al-Hasakah, Deir Ezzor and Manbij in eastern Aleppo.

 

Meanwhile, the military police launch random arrests of the youth in the markets, streets and public places in a way that negatively impact some works.

 

After being arrested, the youth experienced a medial test to ensure their safety of the ongoing diseases or any other disease that would hinder their military work. Then, they were distributed in military training centers for running a 45-day military round. After the final sorting process, the chosen youth were sent to any of the SDF-military posts to serve in the cities’ centers, administrative work or the frontlines.

 

The recruited young men served for 12 months starting from the day of enrollment until end of the duration and then they received the self-defense duty and service layoff certificate.