She thought she was leading a blitzkrieg. Now she is mired in conflict with international influence. Russia, which is on the 21st day of its invasion of Ukraine, launched a recruiting campaign in Syria on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday.
While at least 200,000 Russian soldiers are mobilized in 115 battalions (out of 900,000 active Russian soldiers and at least the same number of reserve soldiers), Russian officers have compiled lists of possible Syrian combat candidates in regime-held areas in Damascus . Target? The replenishment of the ranks of the Russian army, one of the largest armies in the world (in France in 2020, the army consisted of more than 205 thousand people, compared with 1.4 million in the US and 200 thousand in Ukraine), faced many difficulties on the ground.
Who are these potential recruits from Syria?
According to Abdel Rahman, director of the OSDH, they are either members of the regular Syrian army or members of pro-regime militias trained by Russians and with combat experience in urban areas. Among the recruits are soldiers from the 25th Special Forces Division of the Syrian Army, formerly known as the Tiger Forces, as well as from the 5th Division. The two Russian-backed forces – the former Tiger Forces – are also the “most important” and most powerful on Syrian soil, according to a study by a US Middle East think tank.
Usually they are paid from 13 to 32 euros per month, these soldiers are promised a salary of 1,000 euros to fight in Ukraine. They are also entitled to 7,000 euros in injury compensation and their families will receive 15,000 euros if they die in action, the OSDH added.
How many fighters will be mobilized?
It is difficult to say how many Syrians can actually be placed on the territory of Ukraine. At the moment, “there is no evidence that the Syrians are fighting in Ukraine, but there is a small local and targeted attempt in Syria to estimate the number of possible volunteers,” Charles Lister, Middle East Institute analyst and Syria specialist, elaborates in a post published in Monday.
According to the OSDH, a list of potential combatants has been compiled with at least 22,000 candidates approved by Russian officers. Another 18,000 people have registered with the Ba’ath Party, Syria’s ruling party. They will be chosen by the controversial Wagner Group, a private Russian paramilitary company with ties to the Kremlin.
The role of these soldiers is yet to be determined. Their experience in urban areas could enable the Russians to take Kyiv, US officials say, quoted by the Wall Street Journal. An analysis questioned by Charles Lister: “Recruiting Syrians as a holding force would be odd as they don’t speak the same language, don’t know the local milieu or culture, and would be easy targets in the event of a ‘revolt'”. he said.
Why is Russia recruiting in Syria?
The Russian army is already present in Syria. Since 2015, Moscow has been intervening militarily in Syrian territory to support Bashar al-Assad’s regime against jihadist forces and several rebel groups that have been in conflict for more than a decade. A lifesaving intervention for the Assad regime: In September 2021, Putin congratulated his Syrian counterpart, who then controlled “90% of the territory.” Syrian militias are also accustomed to traveling abroad: they have already been mobilized by Russia and Turkey in Libya or Turkey in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
What does Syria say about these steps?
At the moment, she denies the existence of this recruitment campaign. “So far, not a single name has been registered, not a single soldier, and no one has traveled to Russia to fight in Ukraine,” Omar Rahmun of the National Reconciliation Committee told AFP.
But in Syria, soldiers appear to be gearing up specifically for mobilization in Ukraine, writes Middle East Eye, which currently counts its first recruits in the hundreds, not thousands. In a video posted on Facebook, Nabel Abdallah, one of the leaders of the Syrian National Defense Force Paramilitary Organization, says he is “ready” to participate in the war. “If the salary is good, why not. Russia fought us in Syria, what difference does it make to use a rifle here and there? “Adds another soldier to the English-language newspaper.
Is Russia recruiting elsewhere?
Russia seems to want to replenish its ranks at any cost, ostensibly in response to the formation of an international pro-Ukrainian legion. The Wagner Company, which hires Russian mercenaries and also supported separatist forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been recruiting new members through social media in recent weeks, according to a BBC poll.
Recruitment criteria are broad and may include “persons with a criminal record, in debt, banned from other mercenary groups, or without a foreign passport,” as well as people from the occupied areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea. On the VKontakte social network, the Russian authorities also post offers to recruit “guards” from the countries of the former USSR, and Chechen detachments are already supporting Russians in Ukraine.