A Conscript's View of the Battle for Homs
Interview with a forced conscript
There is still much uncertainty over what exactly happened to the Syrian army in November and December 2024. At the time I laid out several ongoing structural issues. Aymenn Tamimi has recently published several interviews with men who fought on the Aleppo fronts, providing their perspectives of the battle from the regime’s side.
Yesterday I spoke with a man from the opposition town of al-Tal who was detained and forcibly conscripted in July 2024, after years of avoiding service. He spoke with clarity and certainty about the events he witnessed in northern Homs, providing some important insights into the army’s attempted after the fall of Aleppo and the role of Iran and Hezbollah up until the final moments.
When were you conscripted and what were the circumstances?
I dropped out of college in 2020 which meant I was no longer protected from conscription. I avoided service until July 2024, when a patrol here in al-Tal stopped me and after seeing my service papers arrested me.
What happened after you were detained?
I was first taken to the Criminal Security Branch prison in Harasta. I stayed here for 24 hours and was then moved to the Military Prison in Qaboun where I remained for two days. After this I was sent to Nabek, to the military intake center there. This is where all conscripts in Syria are sent before they are divided into the different brigades and divisions. They just gave us conscripts some food and water and I was lucky that I arrived the day they served chicken. I only spent 24 hours here and was then sent to the Border Guards Command in Dar al-Kabir, Homs [profiled here]. There were maybe 500 of us at the Recruitment Center in the Border Guards base. Talking about sect was forbidden but my impression was that most of the conscripts and officers were Sunni.
Was this the normal process for detained conscripts?
No, in the past you would spend a lot more time in each prison, and usually one month in Nabek. But it seemed like they were in a rush to move us to units. They were trying to replace old formations [men who had been serving for many years] with new people.
So you stayed at the base until the final battle began?
Yes, we never finished training when HTS began their attack. Up until Aleppo was taken we were in denial about what was happening, and the officers did not want us to know anything. But I had some experience with computers so they had me working in the administration office inputting files into the computer, so I had access to a mobile phone and could follow the events more closely.
What happened then?
The moment they took Aleppo we were all put on high alert, like your ‘defcon 1’. All men who had been on leave were called back, and leave was cancelled for everyone else, even the men who had paid tayfish to be on extended leave were ordered back to the headquarters. Most of them returned. The Border Guards Regiment that had been in Aleppo also arrived at our base. They had retreated to Kweires Airbase first then arrived here on December 1. There were around 700 men in the regiment in Aleppo but only around 70 arrived at our base. I guess most of them deserted. This group was isolated from the rest of us when they arrived so that we could not learn what happened. I also saw some men arrive with them who looked Chechen, I don’t know but they didn’t look Syrian and they were very unhappy to be here. They were given beds in the commander’s quarters. I guess they were part of the Russian forces in Aleppo.
Did the Border Guards support the battle in Hama?
No, I think just some logistical support was sent north. The Talkalakh Battalion and Nabek Regiment were both re-deployed to our base in Dar al-Kabir.
What happened after Hama?
The day Hama was liberated, or maybe even the day before, the locals in Rastan and Talbiseh rose up. Suddenly we were the frontline now. Our commander was a bit sympathetic to us recruits. We didn’t even have weapons or training. He sent us away from Dar al-Kabir to the Armored College outside Homs City where other units were gathering. The veterans stayed in Dar al-Kabir, and some recruits who volunteered to stay and fight. We arrived at the college on December 5.
Did you notice any Hezbollah involved in the defense of Homs?
I heard a voice recording of a Hezbollah commander around this time saying “the Syrians sold us, if you haven’t crossed yet [from Lebanon] don’t come” and I saw some Iranian officers in the college who were organizing the defense of Homs.
What did the Border Guards do during the battle?
We conscripts were assigned to build fortifications and move supplies around to points in the college. The day before Homs was liberated the officers asked us if we wanted weapons, but we all refused. Rumors were spreading that the international parties had agreed to implement resolution 2254 and that Assad would leave. The officers started saying things like “we love our country, the army fights for Syria not Assad” [replacing the usual “Assad” with “country” to try and distance themselves from the regime].
What happened during the battle for Homs?
At first we heard there was a ceasefire, but then the artillery and rockets started firing at Rastan and Talbiseh. The men using the artillery were poorly trained though and they hit the Dar al-Kabir base. The base was surrounded, there was heavy fighting across north Homs. We saw Shaheen drones over the college and had no idea how to counter them so the men in the base just shot everything they had in the air, but they never hit them. The drones didn’t attack us, just monitored. Then the college was encircled, I guess, because the artillery kept firing north but airstrikes were hitting behind us. The planes bombed until the last moment of the regime
How did your time in the army end?
On December 7 the officers all fled the college. Some recruits tried to go with them but they were shot at. At 11pm two friends and I decided to escape. We had no idea how to get back to al-Tal so we looked for signs to Damascus. We made it the Masyaf bridge after about an hour and there HTS captured us. Even though we weren’t wearing uniforms they knew we were in the army. They brought us to a place in al-Wa’er neighborhood where they were gathering many captured soldiers. We slept there the rest of the night and I saw many opposition fighters from Homs meeting their families for the first time in years there.
The HTS men knew we were recruited by force, so they were understanding, but still they could not hide their hate for us. In the morning we all began a long march south towards Damascus. No drivers wanted to pick us up because we had been in the army. At one point we found a transit garage with dead soldiers, I guess they had tried to resist. One man picked my friend and I up for a while but then an HTS fighter drove by and told him to make us walk. We kept walking until later a family from Idlib drove by on their way to Sednaya Prison to look for their family members. They offered us a ride the rest of the way.
And now?
I made taswiya and I am waiting for my new civilian ID. I work 11 hours a day now in two cashier jobs, but the pay is very bad.