A lot of fighters have been killed, and we have desertions,” he said by telephone, sighing. The officer said many units had suffered heavy losses battling rebels. One army officer contacted in Homs said he believed that only half of those called up in recent months had reported for duty, although it was not possible to verify that figure or ascertain whether other units had experienced similar levels of reservists failing to report. Like others interviewed for this article, he asked not to be identified for security reasons. “We have two choices: Stay and kill fellow Syrians, or desert, and be on the run from military courts,” said a legal assistant summoned for duty in Damascus. Several fleeing reservists and a serving army officer told Reuters that thousands of men had been called up in the past two months to bolster the 300,000 strong army, and many of them are failing to report for duty. An undated handout photo distributed by the Syrian News Agency (SANA) on July 8, 2012, shows Syrian armed forces during a live ammunitions exercise in an undisclosed location.
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