Syrian mercenaries will be enlisted alongside the Russian army in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin made it official on Friday March 11, declaring that he was going to authorize “Middle East Volunteers” to go into battle, as auxiliaries to the Russian forces. According to testimonies collected by Syrian observers, the recruitment campaign has already begun in the provinces under the control of President Bashar Al-Assad. The information had been corroborated, Monday, March 7, by the Pentagon. “We believe there is some truth to reports that the Russians are looking for Syrian fighters to bolster their ranks in Ukraine,” explained its spokesperson, John Kirby.
The mobilization of Syrian mercenaries in foreign theaters of conflict is not unprecedented. Syrians have been deployed by Russia and Turkey in Libya, and by Turkey in Nagorno-Karabakh. On the Russian side, enrollment was done through private security companies such as Wagner, close to President Vladimir Putin, who has been present in Syria since the Russian military intervention in support of President Assad in late 2015, and in Libya since 2018.
They recruited Syrians in 2017 to secure oil fields and infrastructure in Syria, and track down fighters from the Islamic State organization. “Then, Syrians were sent to the front in Libya. For a year, some have been recruited for non-combat duties in Donbass, to build trenches and installations,” explains Souhail Al-Ghazi, a researcher affiliated with the Center for Middle East Studies-Orsam, who estimates that salaries range between 800 and 1,800 dollars (between 727 and 1,637 euros).
Money, the main driving force
On February 28, the human rights organization Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) collected testimonials which confirm an ongoing recruitment campaign in the province of Damascus. “Recruitment is done by private security groups like Wagner and Syrian security services. It is done through the branches of the Ba’ath Party, the National Defense Forces and other local militias. But there must be an order from Russia,” explains Bassam Al-Ahmad, the director of STJ. The recruits are, according to him, former soldiers of the Syrian army or former insurgents who have been granted amnesty by the regime within the framework of the reconciliation committees, like the members of the 5and Assault Corps of Deraa (South), a local militia made up of former insurgents and supported by the Russians, already present on the Libyan front.
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