DAMASCUS/AMMAN/BAGHDAD — 23-year-old Syrian military conscript Farhan al-Khouli was badly paid and demoralised. His army outpost in scrubland near the rebel-held city of Idlib should have had nine soldiers but it just had three, after some had bribed the commanding officers to escape serving, he said.

And, of the two conscripts with him, one was regarded by his superiors as mentally unfit and not trusted with a gun, Khouli said.

For years, the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had sat behind the nearby frontline, with Syria's long civil war frozen. But on Wednesday, Nov 27, Khouli's commanding officer — at another post behind the frontlines — called his mobile phone to tell him a rebel convoy was heading his way.

The officer said the unit should stand its ground and fight.

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