Young men in Deir ez-Zor province, one of the poorest and most volatile areas of Syria, are contending with a fresh challenge to their livelihoods heaped on top of widespread unemployment, inflation and violence: conscription into military units affiliated with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In WhatsApp interviews with Al-Monitor over the past three weeks, eight Deir ez-Zor residents, from day laborers to white-collar professionals, described how the prospect of arrest for service had threatened, reduced or cut off their incomes. They say conscription is an undue burden on youth who in many cases are barely keeping their families afloat. The paltry salary offered to conscripts, a fraction of what is given to volunteer soldiers, has fueled resentment.

“We can’t find work or provide for our families, and now they’re demanding we enlist. If I wanted to be conscripted, I would’ve stayed with the Assad regime,” a defected Syrian government soldier in Deir ez-Zor’s eastern countryside told Al-Monitor on Feb. 3.

Deir ez-Zor is home to large oil reserves, but ordinary residents do not benefit from the natural riches that surround them. Protests against poor municipal services and poverty conditions are frequent. Year after year, fuel shortages ensure that people shiver through the desert winters, as smugglers ship oil out of the province.