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Assad’s former fighters underground as demobilization stalls

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

Assad’s former fighters underground as demobilization stalls

✍️ Cian Ward

syriadirect.org/assads-forme...

Former regime soldiers say the demobilization process launched when Assad fell has stalled, leaving many in hiding and without civilian IDs—only expired “settlement cards” they fear put a target on th...

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

The risks of incomplete demobilization are significant: pushing former soldiers into isolation and unemployment. “I don’t see anything in my future—we are just waiting, taking it day by day,” Daher says. “When you push someone into a corner, eventually he will hit back.”

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

The Syrian coast continues to witness killings and kidnappings targeting the Alawite community, as well as guerilla attacks on government security services by murky groups claiming ties to the former regime.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

One father in Latakia recounts how his son—who he says was conscripted into an administrative role—was taken away and shot during sectarian violence this past March. Gunmen had asked the family for their IDs, and his son only had the card he received during his demobilization.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

Far from providing a path to a different future, they fear the document marks them for harassment or worse. Especially on the coast where armed groups linked to the former regime remain active, a military history remains suspect.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

Without civilian ID—only expired documents marking them as former regime soldiers—brothers Laith and Daher (pseudonyms) sequester themselves at home in their Latakia village. “It’s simply too dangerous to pass through a checkpoint,” Laith says.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

“No clear administrative or legal decision has been issued regarding the collective demobilization of the military,” researcher Samir Alabdullah explains, leaving many “in an unstable legal situation” between a “dissolved military status and an incomplete civilian status.”

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

The demobilization process appears to have been somewhat ad hoc, hastily assembled by a military operations room itself surprised at the swiftness of the regime’s collapse. Now, for those waiting to receive civilian ID cards, it seems to have stalled.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

In return, former regime military personnel received a document attesting to their demobilization. Once investigated and cleared of involvement in war crimes, the men were to receive civilian IDs, and have their files closed.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

When the regime fell in December 2024, Syria’s new authorities issued an amnesty for those who fought under Assad, particularly conscripts. Hundreds flocked to registration centers to hand in weapons and turn over military IDs.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 3d

🧵 Former regime soldiers say the demobilization process launched when Assad fell has stalled, leaving many in hiding and without civilian IDs—only expired “settlement cards” they fear put a target on their backs.

🔗 bit.ly/42XlCDu

Laith (a pseudonym), a former Syrian regime soldier, holds the settlement card he received at a demobilization center in December 2024, which has since expired, 18/09/2025

Mixed reactions as Syria holds indirect vote for first post-Assad parliament

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

Mixed reactions as Syria holds indirect vote for first post-Assad parliament

✍️ @natachadanon.bsky.social

syriadirect.org/mixed-reacti...

As Syria holds its first post-Assad parliamentary elections, some express support for the indirect electoral process, while others criticize its lack of transparency.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

“I have a fundamental problem with calling this process an electoral process,” said Bassam al-Ahmad, executive director of Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ), one of the statement’s signatories. “It's not an election, it’s selection.”

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

Last month, 14 civil society elections issued a joint statement denouncing the electoral process as “plagued by deep structural flaws, rendering it far from meeting even the minimum international standards for political participation.”

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

Still, others have said the elections lack transparency. Only 1,578 candidates were selected to run based on “hidden criteria,” said Rani Ali, 41, a feminist and human rights activist who presented herself as a candidate but did not make the final cut.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

No census has been conducted since 2010, while millions of citizens are internally displaced or refugees abroad. Moreover, no independent political parties have existed for over 50 years.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

Others expressed understanding: “From my perspective, it’s normal for elections to be representative and incomplete because the infrastructure for elections is not ready,” said Ali Suleiman, 39, a civil activist from Raqqa living in Damascus.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

Some residents Syria Direct spoke to believed general elections were being held, while others dismissed them as insignificant: “Anything below presidential elections is not beneficial,” said Muhammad al-Midani, 27, who owns a coffee shop in Damascus.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 5d

As Syria holds its first post-Assad parliamentary elections, some express support for the indirect electoral process, while others criticize its lack of transparency.

🔗 bit.ly/4pWMBZO

A member of Syria's local election committees in Damascus casts her vote in the country's selection process to designate an interim parliament, 5/10/2025 (Louai Beshara/AFP). The elector voting is a woman wearing glasses, a white hijab and long dark jacket. She inserts a paper ballot into a clear glass case. Men and women wearing red lanyards stand nearby, in front of a Syrian flag.

How Syria’s Ismaili community keeps a fragile peace

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 8d

How Syria’s Ismaili community keeps a fragile peace

✍️ Anagha Subhash Nair

syriadirect.org/how-syrias-i...

Salamiya, a Hama province city home to most of Syria’s Ismaili minority, has been a post-Assad “success story.” Community leaders and analysts emphasize the importance of dialogue and inclusive govern...

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 8d

“The [Syrian] state needs to focus on trust-building,” Nanar Hawach says. “They need finally to understand that...the use of force and coercion as the sole tactic, and treating dialogue as an afterthought, is going to have negative consequences on the state's legitimacy and its grip on the ground.”

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 8d

Still, compared to the central government’s relations with some other minority communities—including Alawites, Druze and Kurds—Salamiya’s Ismaili community has been a “success story,” Nanar Hawach of @crisisgroup.org says.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 8d

As residents relinquished their weapons, the Ismaili Council recruited 2,000 men and women as volunteers to protect neighborhoods and inform government security forces of any threats to the area. However, Ismailis have not been included as members of the official security apparatus.

Syria Direct @syriadirect.bsky.social · 8d

Early cooperation was followed by a disarmament agreement, which Ismaili Council member Mamoon Alkhateeb calls the “first step that ensured the security of the region.” Ibrahim al-Mawass, the head of Damascus’s Internal Security Directorate in Salamiya, agrees.