SYRIAN SOLDIERS FLEE AS GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PAY SALARIES

Tue 06 April 2021:

Soldiers belonging to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army have begun to desert their posts as the government fails to pay salaries, Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper has reported.

The paper’s sources said many had headed to Libya to join the militia of former General Khalifa Haftar, fighting against the internationally recognised Government of National Accord.

Damascus has reportedly been struggling to pay soldiers’ salaries due to the state’s economic difficulties, with the ongoing war in Syria marking its ten-year anniversary earlier this month.

The newspaper also reported that the Khmeimim air base, operated by Russia in Syria’s Latakia governorate, had been transformed into a recruitment centre for mercenaries to be sent to Libya and Venezuela.