Around 50 young men stood in line under the sun, in front of the crumbling walls of the Sousse garrison in eastern Tunisia on Monday, October 19. Many came from the coastal city of Sousse, while others were from Kairouan or Mahdia, further south. All had been called up for their 12-month military service, which has been theoretically mandatory for Tunisians over the age of 20 since 1975, a system widely shunned since the 2011 revolution.

Although the last recruitment session ended on October 2, the Sousse mobilization center – one of five in the country – continued to receive those willing to serve. This particularly high turnout is due less to a resurgence in the program's popularity than to the threat of penalties now facing conscripts who attempt to evade service.

While the Tunisian army enjoys a positive image among the public, the mandatory national service has long been neglected, with only a fraction of those called truly serving. "In the 1980s and 1990s, there were roundups to force people into military service, but that ended under [former president Zine El Abidine] Ben Ali: The state turned a blind eye to the situation of young people who did not serve," explained Mourad Chabbi, professor of security and geopolitical risks at Grenoble École de Management (GEM). A February 2024 law exempted Tunisians born before January 1, 2000.