Young Syrians pay a heavy price for Bashar al-Assad's belief in 'sulha', or amnesty

Assad's militia has in recent days arrested dozens of young Syrians returning from Lebanon to the Syrian capital, Damascus, exposing the falsity of official statements about the pardon issued by Syrian President Bashar Assad, after promising the safe return of Syrian refugees.

Private local sources told the Orient Net network today that 33 young Syrian refugees returning from Lebanese territory were arrested by the militia at one of its checkpoints on the outskirts of the town of al-Kutaifa in the eastern Gauta of the capital Damascus, and taken to an unknown destination in the town.

Sources (including the brother of one of the detainees) explained that the young men had returned from Lebanon to their hometown in eastern Al-Gauta, “and they found themselves being arrested despite official promises from the Assad regime that no harm would come to them.