ALEPPO, Syria — The Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is stepping up efforts to force young men into military service in the northern province of Raqqa. Though SDF leaders deny that service is compulsory, on May 18 its Military Discipline Units arrested 20 young men from Tel al-Saman, Khaniz and Mazraat Tishrin in Raqqa for avoiding service and took them to training camps.

The arrest campaign has raised public ire in northeast Syria, specifically in Raqqa, though arrests have been made across the Euphrates region that SDF controls, such as Kobani, Manbij and its countryside and Al-Jazira. The campaign targets all ethnicities, including Arabs and Kurds.

The Committee for Protection and Self-Defense in Raqqa, affiliated with the autonomous administration areas in northern and eastern Syria, is tasked with recruiting for the SDF. The recent arrests came after a May 14 decision by the defense committee in the Euphrates region, calling on men between the ages of 18 and 28 to perform what SDF describes as “self-defense duty.”

The SDF receives support from the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State.