BEIRUT: Russia has drawn up lists of 40,000 fighters from Syrian army and allied militias to be put on standby for deployment in Ukraine, a war monitor said Tuesday.
The Kremlin said last week that volunteers, including from Syria, were welcome to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activists said Russian officers, in coordination with the Syrian military and allied militia, had set up registration offices in regime-held areas.
“More than 40,000 Syrians have registered to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine so far,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the UK-based monitor.
Moscow is recruiting Syrians who acquired combat experience during Syria’s 11-year-old civil war to bolster the invasion of Ukraine it launched on February 24.
Russian officers deployed as part of the force Moscow sent to Syria in 2015 to support Damascus had approved 22,000 of them, Abdel Rahman said.
Those fighters are either combatants drawn from the army or pro-regime militias who have experience in street warfare and received Russian training.
In a country where soldiers earn between $15 and $35 per month, Russia has promised them a salary of $1,100 to fight in Ukraine, the Observatory reported.
They are also entitled to $7,700 in compensation for injuries and their families to $16,500 if they are killed in combat.
Another 18,000 men had registered with Syria’s ruling Baath party and would be screened by the Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor with links to the Kremlin, the monitor said.
Misinformation about Syrian recruits in Ukraine has been spreading online.
Last week, pictures were shared of a Syrian soldier they said had died in Ukraine, but it later appeared he had been killed in his homeland in 2015.
The Observatory said it had no confirmed reports yet of any Syrian recruits leaving for Ukraine.
Abdel Rahman said Russia had drawn Syrian army recruits from the 25th Special Mission Forces Division, once better known as the “Tiger Forces,” and from the Russian-run 5th Division.
Fighters from the Palestinian Liwaa Al-Quds group and the Baath party’s military branch had also enlisted.
A Syrian government representative denied the recruitment drive.
“Until now no names have been written down, no soldiers registered in any centers nor has anyone traveled to Russia to fight in Ukraine,” Omar Rahmoun of the National Reconciliation Committee told AFP.
Syrian mercenaries have already fought on opposing sides of foreign conflicts, in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.
More than a decade of war has pushed 90 percent of the population into poverty, a factor Syrians for Truth and Justice said was a key factor in the recruitment.
A Syrian soldier told the activist group this month that he enlisted to fight in Ukraine because he could not find a job after his military service.
“The situation is extremely dire. There is no electricity, heating, or household gas,” he said, adding he had registered at an air force intelligence office near Damascus.
Regime-allied forces opened recruitment centers in the eastern towns of Al-Mayadeen and Deir Ezzor, according to Omar Abu Layla, who heads the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet.
“Wagner started the whole thing in Deir Ezzor; only dozens have registered so far,” he said.
“In a country that lacks basic necessities, some have no choice but to fight... for a few hundred dollars.”
Turkey-backed rebels in northern Syria are also gearing up to send fighters on the opposing side.
An AFP reporter in northern Syria said the factions preparing for Ukraine include the Sultan Murad, Sulaiman Shah and Hamza divisions, all of which had previously sent hundreds of fighters to fight in Libya and Azerbaijan.
While money is the main driver for Syrian mercenaries on both sides of the conflict, rights groups said Ankara’s proxies often exploited fighters and withheld wages.
One fighter told AFP he was promised $3,000 to join the Ukraine battlefield.
“We are tired of the hunger... I will go and never come back. From Ukraine, I plan to go to Europe,” another said.
Russia drafting thousands in Syria for Ukraine war: Monitor
https://arab.news/znb7t
Russia drafting thousands in Syria for Ukraine war: Monitor
- Moscow is recruiting Syrians who acquired combat experience during Syria’s 11-year-old civil war to bolster the invasion of Ukraine
- In a country where soldiers earn between $15 and $35 per month, Russia has promised them a salary of $1,100 to fight in Ukraine
Switzerland mourns Crans-Montana fire tragedy
- All of Switzerland will mark a national day of mourning Friday for the dozens of mostly teenagers killed when fire ravaged a ski resort bar crammed with New Year revellers
CRANS MONTANA: All of Switzerland will mark a national day of mourning Friday for the dozens of mostly teenagers killed when fire ravaged a ski resort bar crammed with New Year revellers.
Just over a week after the tragedy at the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, which left 40 dead and 116 injured, the wealthy Alpine nation will come to a standstill for a minute of silence at 2:00 p.m. (1300 GMT).
A chorus of church bells will then ring throughout the country.
The moment of silence will stand as a “testament to the shared grief felt by the entire nation with all the families and friends directly affected,” the Swiss government said in a statement.
At the same time, a memorial ceremony for the victims will be held in Martigny, a town about 50 kilometers (31 miles) down the valley from Crans-Montana, which had been rendered all but inaccessible by a large snowstorm.
Inhabitants of the plush ski resort town will meanwhile be able to watch the ceremony as it is livestreamed to large screens, including at the congress center that for days after the tragedy accommodated families seeking news of missing loved ones.
Among ‘worst tragedies’
A memorial that has sprung up in front of the bar, loaded with flowers, candles and messages of grief and support, was covered in an igloo-like tarp Thursday to protect it from the heavy snowfall.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who has declared the fire “one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced,” will be joined for the ceremony by his French and Italian counterparts, whose countries lost nine and six nationals respectively in the fire.
Top officials from Belgium, Luxembourg, Serbia and the European Union were also due to participate in the ceremony.
Most of those impacted by the inferno at Le Constellation were Swiss, but a total of 19 nationalities were among the fatalities and the wounded.
Half of those killed in the blaze were under 18, including some as young as 14.
Of those injured, 83 remain in hospital, with the most severely burned airlifted to specialist centers across Switzerland and abroad.
Prosecutors believe the blaze started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised too close to sound insulation foam on the ceiling in the bar’s basement section.
Experts have suggested that what appeared to be highly flammable foam may have caused a so-called flashover — a near-simultaneous ignition of everything in an enclosed space, trapping many of the young patrons.
Video footage which has emerged from the tragedy shows young people desperately trying to flee the scene, some breaking windows to try to force their way out.
On Tuesday, municipal authorities acknowledged that no fire safety inspections had been conducted at Le Constellation since 2019, prompting outrage.
‘Staggering’
The investigation underway will seek to shed light on the responsibilities of the authorities, but also of bar owners Jacques and Jessica Moretti.
The French couple, facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, have been called in for questioning on Friday, sources close to the investigation told AFP.
The pair, who have not been detained, said in a statement Tuesday that they were “devastated and overwhelmed with grief,” and pledged their “full cooperation” with investigators.
They will need to answer numerous questions about why so many minors were in the bar, and whether fire safety standards were adhered to.
There has been much focus on the soundproofing foam, which, according to photos taken by the owners, had been added during renovations in 2015.
A video filmed by a member of the public, screened Monday by Swiss broadcaster RTS, showed that the danger was known years ago.
“Watch out for the foam!,” a bar employee said during 2019 New Year’s Eve celebrations, as champagne bottles with sparklers were brought out.
“This video is staggering,” Romain Jordan, a lawyer representing several affected families, told AFP, saying it showed “there was an awareness of this risk — and that possibly this risk was accepted.”
