THU 28 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Jun 9, 2015
Source: The Daily Star
Syria hikes monthly salaries for front-line army troops
Marlin Dick
BEIRUT: Syria will hike combat pay for soldiers and officers serving in the 500 areas around the country where troops are confronting “terrorists,” Prime Minister Wael Halqi said Monday, while also urging young men to report for mandatory military service.

The announcements came in the wake of sliding morale among supporters of the regime of President Bashar Assad after recent battlefield setbacks, and rising anger over shoddy treatment of combat personnel.

“We will begin paying SP10,000 monthly to fighters in the Syrian Arab Army on the front lines with armed terrorist groups ... beginning next month,” Halqi said, speaking during a brief, televised parliament session.

He added that food rations for the “heroes” who are on active duty at some 500 front-line areas would also see an improvement, promising them one hot meal a day. Photographs have recently circulated on social media, purporting to show soldiers’ rations consisting of an egg and a piece of flat bread, or a moldy potato.

The initiative to increase combat pay came after a directive by Assad, the prime minister said.

Like Assad in a public appearance one month ago, Halqi acknowledged that the army had suffered “several recent setbacks,” in reference to developments in Idlib province, where the regime now controls only two tiny pockets of territory.

Halqi also implicitly acknowledged the widespread phenomenon of dodging military conscription.

“More than ever we must unite and support our army, and comply with the duty of compulsory and reserve military duty, because it’s the true guarantee of the unity of our territory,” he said.

Halqi said the government was determined to meet its obligations to people serving in the armed forces, the military’s wounded and the families of soldiers killed in battle.

The SP10,000 combat bonus amounts to around $37 at current prices. Current monthly salaries for enlisted men are at SP15,000 ($50) while those of low-ranking officers are double that, according to the available information. Higher-ranking officers’ pay can reach the SP45,000 mark.

However, the combat bonus will leave the pay of many military personnel lower than that of the various paramilitary groups that have emerged over the course of the war, now in its fifth year.

An observer of the conflict told The Daily Star that the paramilitary groups’ pay varied widely. 

“You have the Baath Party battalions, at around SP25,000 per month, and the National Defense force, at SP40,000, while the ‘Men of the Desert’ group can go as high as SP60,000,” the observer said. “In many cases these exact amounts depend on who the exact sponsor of a group is.”

Members of some paramilitary groups, meanwhile, have complained that they fail to receive their pay for several months at a time.

The observer said that while paramilitary groups might seem like a more attractive option for regime supporters, the benefits available in regular army service were considerable – although several only apply after a soldier is killed in combat.

The family of a “martyr” can benefit from the promise of state employment, he said, along with hefty compensation to pay funeral expenses and medical care and tuition costs for relatives.

Reactions on pro-regime social media were mixed, with many people expressing skepticism at the news before being informed the prime minister had announced it on television.

Some said they felt SP10,000 was an insufficient bonus, while others objected to the fact that it would only cover those on the front lines.

Another group expressed half-hearted support for the announcement, along with hope that “maybe they’ll stop taking money from us at checkpoints,” as one person put it.



 
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