Researcher Muhsen AlMustafa at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies told Enab Baladi that this step is partly driven by an attempt to ease the burden on social groups in regime-controlled areas, while ruling out at the same time that it carries messages to Arab countries, considering that the issue is closely tied to the level of manpower in the “army” forces.

According to the researcher, the issued order of demobilization and ending retention does not reflect full military stability as much as it expresses a state of “sufficiency” with the enlistment of new recruits. AlMustafa ruled out that large numbers of soldiers would benefit from the decision, since it is tied to conditions that do not apply to everyone, stressing that decisions related to the regime’s military institution are, nonetheless, real and consequential.