Military services in Syria reduced to two years

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad issued on Thursday Legislative Decree No 1 for the year 2005 limiting the period of the ordinary compulsory military service to two years.

The decree also applies to the Palestinians living in Syria.

The president also issued Legislative Decree No 2 for the year 2005 determining the sum of $2,000 to be paid by the Syrian nationals who were born and lived in Arab or foreign countries until they enter the age of the military service, and the sum of $5,000 for those who left Syria to the countries in which they are living now before they completed 11 years of age and they have lived there for at least 15 years in order to be exempted from the military service.

Minister of Expatriates Buthaina Shaaban said "The decree is an indication of President Assad's care to attract those expatriates and reinforce ties with their motherland," in a statement following a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

She expressed hope that relations with the expatriates will witness new horizons, adding that this demand topped the recommendations of the Expatriates Conference recently held in Damascus.

Earlier, President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday issued a decree fixing the compensation sum to be paid by Syrian nationals who were born and lived abroad and didn't follow the military service at $ 2000.