Amnesty for Syrian deserters

The amnesty, the second in just over a year, gives military deserters who have fled the country two months to hand themselves in without incurring any legal penalty, while those still in Syria have one month, state media reported on Saturday.

It was not clear what the amnesty would mean for men who have dodged conscription, which is compulsory in Syria.

Many young men have fled Syria to avoid the draft, and others have deserted as the army comes under increasing strain amid a four-year insurgency that has pitted government forces against secular rebels, Islamist militants and a large portion of the population.

Army under duress

Government forces have experienced a series of setbacks in recent months, having been forced by a coalition of Islamist brigades to pull out of much of the northwestern province of Idlib and compelled to yield the desert city of Palmyra in central Syria to the "Islamic State" group.

In recent months, the army has bolstered its manpower by recruiting fighters from loyalist militias in those provinces still in government hands, offering volunteers lucrative pay.

Assad's forces have also received assistance from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which has helped in the battle for Qalamoun and the nearby city of Zabadani, located in mountainous region bordering Lebanon.

tj/mkg (Reuters, AFP)