Syrian regime has been recruiting youth and former rebel fighters in the capital's reconciled districts as new militia has been formed to fight ISIS in eastern Qalamoun, activists said.
Qalamoun Shield is a paramilitary group backed and financed by the military intelligence to fight in eastern Damascus at the gates of Syrian desert, also known as al-Badiya.
Local activists of Barzeh said 50 young people from the district have joined the militia, less than two months since hundreds of Barzeh fighters left to Idlib province.
The former rebel fighters in Damascus suburbs have no choice, they should join regime militias otherwise will be arrested, activists say.
Last May, hundreds of fighters left Barzeh heading Idlib province as part of an evacuation deal reached with the regime which was the first evacuation from Damascus in the country's six-year war.
Barzeh, near the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta district of towns and farms, has been the site of intense fighting between rebels and the regime army in recent months
