By Mo’ayed al-Ashqar
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – After obtaining a permission to travel, Muhammad al-Kakouni left to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He will pay a sum of money in exchange for not serving the mandatory military service in Syria that is imposed on all young men after the age of 18. He will be absent for a year in the UAE to be able to pay the sum of money required for the allowance.
Al-Kakouni, a 20-year-old young man from Daraa Governorate, southern Syria, is wanted for the mandatory military service. Like most young people in Syria, he has no intention at all of serving in the military.
He worked alongside his father in a shop for electrical appliances in the Daraa al-Mahatta neighborhood in the city of Daraa. However, the intensified presence of the government forces in the area put him at risk of arrest at any time.
Despite considering various options to evade military service, al-Kakouni ultimately decided to pay the money. This decision would allow him to permanently avoid the mandatory service.
The payment of the money, which amounts to $8,000, requires al-Kakouni to leave Syria for a year.
Abdurrahman al-Ayed, 28, from Daraa, faced a similar predicament as he is wanted for military service. However, he evaded the military service via continuing his university studies.
He used to intentionally fail at exams to ensure an additional year of deferment.
However, matters did not go as planned for al-Ayed, as the Syrian authorities made it clear that deliberate failure at exams would no longer grant a deferment. Consequently, al-Ayed had to pass all his exams and graduate.
Al-Ayed, like many others, has become wanted to perform the military service, limiting his activities. These circumstances forced him to stay at the house of one of his relatives in Daraa al-Balad neighborhood.
He started working as a tutor to cover his expenses due to the dire economic conditions in the country.
Ghaith al-Faouri, 20, a pseudonym of a young man wanted for the military service, sought to find medical conditions that would enable him to exempt himself and pay a fee instead of serving in the military.
Al-Faouri discovered that one of the conditions he could claim was having eye problems. When he consulted a doctor about this, the doctor confirmed the condition and advised him that if he could obtain a medical report confirming his visual problems, it would help him to evade the military service.
Al-Faouri made great efforts through his connections and paid bribes to the committee responsible for examining cases and reviewing medical reports.
He told North Press that after securing the medical report in exchange for a sum of money exceeding ten million SYP (about $725), he presented it to the committee, and as a result, he was exempted from military service.