Russian forces have recruited many Syrian fighters and turned them into mercenaries in order to serve Moscow’s interests in Ukraine.
After having received intensive military drills, Russian forces sent those mercenaries to join the war in Ukraine, where the Russian offered them incentives to encourage the largest number of Syrians to engage in that war, exploiting the dreadful living conditions of the most of young people in Syria. Those incentives included financial incentives and granting Russian nationality to some mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.
According to SOHR sources, the number of Syrians recruited by Russia and sent to Ukraine to join the war there approximates 2,000, mostly members of the 25th Division (Special Forces), where Syrian fighters engaged in military battles on the ground on September 22, 2022.
On November 6, 2022, the Syrian Observatory confirmed the death of nine Syrian mercenaries while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
A few days ago, a young man from Ariqah town in the western countryside of Al-Suwaidaa was killed, while participating in military battles alongside Russian forces on a frontline in Luhansk area in Ukraine. The young man’s friend were informed of his death by a Russian officer who informed them that the young man was injured on that frontline and died later of his injury.
Accordingly, the number of Syrian mercenaries recruited by Russian forces and killed in Ukraine has increased to ten, amid un confirmed reports about more fatalities.
It is worth noting that the young man was among a group of seven young men from Al-Suwaidaa province, who were exploited by mediators in Syria and Russian to join the war in Ukraine, where the Russians promised them to improve their living conditions.
The young man had sent an audio record, asking for helping them to return to Syria, expressing that he was suffering greatly on frontlines in Ukraine. Despite efforts exerted by several parties in order to bring the young people back to Syria, no one has returned so far.
