Syria’s dire economy and years of fighting send young ‘mercenaries’ to fight in Ukraine · Global Voices
Russian soldiers salute President <PERSON> at Hmeimim Air Base, during a 2017 visit. Russia's airbase in Syria serves as the launchpad from which volunteers are flown from Syria to Ukraine to fight alongside the Russian army. The image is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
This article was first published by Raseef22 on 19 March 2022. An edited version is published as part of a republishing agreement with Global Voices.
Following years of a devastating war that continues to fragment the country, Syria is now exporting professional mercenaries to other hotspots of conflict, including Libya and the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and they are soon expected to arrive in Ukraine. They packed their fighting experience and headed to foreign arenas, some to fight in Russia’s wars and others fighting Turkey’s foreign wars.
Its like a Syrian once said: “Blackwater Latakia and Aleppo… Welcome to New Syria”.
When it comes to the recruitment of pro-regime fighters, the name of the Russian private military company Wagner Group stands out. The paramilitary organization has a special contract with the Syrian Defense Ministry to fight inside Syria.
The company coordinates with the authorities of the Hmeimim Air Base, Russia’s base of operations in Syria, to recruit Syrians for the purpose of sending them abroad. Wagner’s contractors are not openly present on the scene, but rather operate through a front consisting of Syrians to attract those who are willing.
Since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine in the last week of February 2022, many people, parties, movements, and institutions came out to say: “We are with you, Russia.” These all collectively came as an echo of the official Syrian position which firmly and resolutely stands with Russia — a position that is understandable in the general political context, as no one expects the Syrian regime to stand against its international ally.
But sending “mercenaries” to fight in Ukraine's streets is another matter entirely. 534
It seems that the fighters affiliated with the Syrian regime and the forces that support it have once again set their sights on the dollars that working as “mercenaries” (dubbed “volunteers”) would provide, just like when thousands went to provide support for Russia to face the Turks in Libya. How wouldn’t they, when the USD 700 dollars they were getting paid in Libya per month have gone up to a monthly USD 1000?
On March 11, 2022, Ukrainian President <PERSON> said that Moscow was deploying Syrian mercenaries in his country. Russia has not officially confirmed this, but its Defense Minister <PERSON> reported that 16,000 “volunteers” from the Middle East are ready to fight alongside Russia’s allies in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
The Middle East here refers to Syria — the only place where Russians have allies ready to embark on a mercenary adventure for political conditions and economic hardships the Syrian war created for its people. Also, Syria is the only place that fighters, logistically, can be transferred from to Russia, through the Hmeimim Air Base.
Russian President <PERSON> added:
If you see that there are these people who want of their own accord, not for money, to come to help the people living in Donbas, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone
Packing their bags
<PERSON> is a 28-year-old Syrian man residing in Homs. He packed his belongings in preparation for travel and the subsequent fighting in the Donbas region.
He told <PERSON> he is a former fighter from a combat group within the backup forces in the Qalamoun region that was dissolved in 2017, referring to the Qalamoun Shield Forces, an auxiliary military group that isn’t affiliated with the government army but fights alongside it, just like the National Defense Forces, the al-Bustan Association, the Qalamoun Shield Forces, and the Tiger ‘Nimr’ Forces (named after the nickname of Brigadier General <PERSON>).
<PERSON> recounts how he went to Libya in late 2020 and fought there over two periods. Each period of time consisted of five months, and between the two periods, he went back to Syria for three months.
He added:
Now I’ve been contracted with the Hmeimim Air Base to fight in Ukraine alongside our Russian brothers as a fighter with a salary of 1,000 dollars a month. I do not get the salary while I am on the job, but with my leave to return after seven months, I will receive the full amount for all the months as well as an additional month’s salary. 328