BEIRUT (AP) – During a visit to Syria in 2017, Vladimir Putin praised a Syrian general whose division played an important role in defeating the rebels in the country’s protracted civil war. The Russian president told him that his cooperation with Russian troops “will lead to great success in the future.”
Now members of Brig. General Suheil al-Hassan’s unit is among hundreds of Russian-trained Syrian fighters who have reportedly signed up to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, including Syrian soldiers, former rebels and experienced fighters who have fought the group for years. Islamic State in the Syrian desert.
So far, only a small number appear to have arrived in Russia for military training before being deployed on the front lines. Although Kremlin officials boasted more than 16,000 requests from the Middle East at the start of the war, US officials and activists monitoring Syria say there have not yet been a significant number of fighters in the region who joined the war in Ukraine.
However, analysts say that could change as Russia prepares for the next phase of the battle with a full-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine. They believe Syrian fighters are more likely to be deployed in the coming weeks, especially after Putin named General Alexander Dvornikov, who commanded the Russian military in Syria, as the new military commander in Ukraine.
Although some doubt how effective Syrian fighters would be in Ukraine, they could be recruited if more forces are needed to besiege cities or compensate for growing casualties. Dvornikov is well acquainted with Russia’s many paramilitary forces trained by Russia as he oversaw the strategy of ruthless siege and bombing of opposition-controlled cities in Syria.
“Russia is preparing for a bigger battle” in Ukraine and Syrian fighters are likely to be involved, said Ahmad Hamada, a Syrian army deserter who is now a military analyst based in Turkey.
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Syrian observers and activists say the Russians are actively recruiting in Syria for the war in Ukraine, especially among Russian-trained fighters.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads Britain’s Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an opposition military observer, said about 40,000 people have registered so far – 22,000 in the Russian military and about 18,000 in Russia’s private contractor Wagner Group.
About 700 members of al-Hassan’s 25th Special Forces Division, known in Syria as the “Tiger Force”, have left Syria in recent weeks to fight alongside Russian forces, Abdurahman said. Figures cannot be confirmed independently.
Pro-government activists have posted videos on social media over the past two weeks showing members of the Tiger Forces conducting military exercises, including parachuting from helicopters. Russian officers appeared in one of the videos advising paratroopers in a helicopter as al-Hassan praised the young men by patting them on the head. It was not immediately clear if the videos were new.
Abdurahman said there were also volunteers from the Russian-trained 5th Division; the Ba’athist Brigades, which are the armed wing of Assad’s ruling Ba’ath party; and the Palestinian Quds Brigade, made up of Palestinian refugees in Syria. They all fought alongside the Russian military in the Syrian war.
“The Russians are looking for experienced fighters. “They don’t want anyone who hasn’t been trained by the Russians,” Abdurahman said.
The Tiger Force has taken credit for some of the government’s biggest victories in the 11-year conflict. He was involved in a long-running Russian-backed campaign in the last rebel enclave in the northwestern province of Idlib, which ended in March 2020 with the takeover of government forces on a vital north-south highway – although rebels continue to control the enclave.
Al-Hassan “is one of Russia’s people and Russia will depend on him,” said Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who leads DeirEzzor 24, a group monitoring the war in Syria.
Hundreds of fighters from the 5th Division and the Quds Brigade have registered at Russia’s Hmeimim base in western Syria, which is leading the recruitment effort, and are awaiting orders, he said.
In late March, a Russian-trained force known as the ISIS Hunters militia, which has been fighting IS for years, published an advertisement urging men between the ages of 23 and 49 to come for screening, saying those who pass the test and are found suitable will be called later.
So far, about 100 men have registered their names in the southern province of Swede, according to Ryan Maaruf of Suwayda24, an activist group that covers ISIS activities in the Syrian desert. He added that they were promised a monthly income of at least $ 600, a huge amount of money amid widespread unemployment and the collapse of the Syrian pound.
Earlier this month, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States had indications that the Wagner group was trying to recruit fighters, mostly from the Middle East, to deploy in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
But he said there was “no specific information” on the number of recruits. “It’s just that we’re not there yet to see something really provable when it comes to reinforcements,” he added.
General Frank Mackenzie, head of US Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in early March that so far there are only “very small groups” trying to make their way from Syria to Ukraine, calling it “very a small stream. ‘
Retired Lebanese Army General Naji Malaeb, who is closely following the war in Syria, said there were no indications so far that Syrian fighters would travel to Russia, but that could change as the war drags on.
“It all depends on what the Russians plan to do in the near future,” Malaeb said.
Syrian and Palestinian officials in Syria have downplayed reports of fighters heading to Ukraine. The Syrian government is probably afraid to force Syrian fighters to flock to Ukraine, opening up frontline opportunities that its many opponents could use.
As a potentially alarming sign for the Syrian government, Russia has significantly reduced its operations in Syria since the start of the war in Ukraine, with fewer air strikes targeting ISIS or opposition positions in Idlib.
“Any change in the position of Russian forces or pro-regime militias creates security gaps that anti-regime actors, including Turkey, ISIS, Al Qaeda and Syrian opposition groups, can exploit,” the ISW report said.
Muhanad Haj Ali, a former MP and commander of the Ba’athist ruling wing’s armed wing in Syria, said no Syrian had gone to fight in Ukraine and did not expect anyone to go.
He said he was confident Russia would win in Ukraine without the help of the Syrians.
“The way the operations are going is a clear sign that Ukraine will not be another Afghanistan,” he said.
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