Intelligence: Syrian fighters go to war in Ukraine to flee to EU

IRINA BALACHUK - THURSDAY, 17 MARCH, 2022, 13:34

According to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), some Syrian fighters consider participating in the war on the Russian side a chance to further desert and illegally migrate to EU countries.

Source: DIU on Telegram

Quote: "Recently, more than 30 fighters who were wounded in battles against the Ukrainian defenders have arrived from Russia to the Hmeimim Air Base, a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia. This negatively affected the morale of other fighters and, as a result, some of them have refused to take part in armed hostilities.

Cases of self-mutilation have even been reported among Syrian fighters. Some fighters consider deploying to Russia and Belarus as a chance to further desert and illegally migrate to EU countries."

Details: The DIU reported that the command of the Russian military base Hmeimim in Syria was instructed to send up to 300 fighters to Ukraine every day. On 15 March, 150 fighters were sent to Russia to take part in armed hostilities against Ukraine.

According to the DIU, there are plans to send weapons, military equipment, and other resources from Syria to Russia and Belarus in the near future to support the Russian occupiers.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has promised to provide Russia, in total, with 40,000 fighters for the war in Ukraine.

During recruitment, recruits were promised they would be performing only policing functions to bring order to the occupied territories.

But later, information started to circulate among the fighters that they would be taking part in armed hostilities against the Ukrainian army, and this significantly reduced the "fighting spirit" of the Syrians.