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Adnan bribed his way out of Bashar al-Assad’s army when he was 19. Mid-level officers in Syria’s military do not make enough to turn down cash from teenage soldiers.

HIs entry to the army was as abrupt as his depature. In October 2013, Adnan was on his way to buy breakfast for his wife, Hala, a “very sweet” girl from his neighbourhood whom he had married 10 days earlier.

But soldiers grabbed him on his way to the bakery, bundled him into a bus and sent him to an army barracks.

He was given a gun, told how to shoot it, and was soon shipped out to fight alongside Assad's career soldiers.

“They put me on the front lines," he said. "They said if I didn’t fight, they would kill me.”

For eight weeks, Adnan said, he fought far from home and against enemies that were never identified. When asked whom he fought, Adnan simply replied: "We fought for the regime – that's it."

He survived two months of Assad’s war before identifying a mid-level officer known for accepting escape bribes.

Adnan's family sold their house, and his brother secretly transferred the money to a guard, who turned the other way when Adnan ran from camp.

He fled to Turkey, and then to Chios as one of 1,322 refugees who arrived during a single night in February.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/escape-assads-army-373201818