According to Russian news.ru website, more than 40,000 Syrian fighters have expressed their desire to join the Russian forces to participate in the fight in Ukraine.
The Syrian authorities allowed anyone who wanted to volunteer alongside the Russian forces to advance directly to the Russian side.
Arab and Western media indicated that tens of thousands of Syrian citizens joined the Russian war on Ukraine.
The call for Syrian volunteers began on March 6, 2022, as the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia had begun recruiting Syrian volunteers to send them to the battlefront against Ukraine.
On the 11th of the same month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu officially announced that more than 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East had expressed their desire to fight alongside the Russian forces.
As for the financial rewards that Syrian volunteers receive, they vary according to experience, competence, and their proximity to the front lines.
There are reports indicating that volunteers can earn around $7,000 every 7 months of activity within Ukraine, however, the monthly salary approaches $3,000.
During the period of the volunteer’s fighting with the Russian forces, foodstuffs are provided to his family back home, and in the event of his death, his relatives receive compensation of up to $15,000.
To be selected, Syrian volunteers must have experience in combat operations and be between the ages of 23 and 43, according to analysts from the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.
It’s not possible to determine an exact number of Syrian volunteers who joined this war, but the most experienced fighters from the fighting groups are distinguished by their ability to speak Russian and fight effectively.
Not all Syrian volunteers arrived at the battlefront due to several reasons, including the failure of some of them to comply with the necessary requirements and the insufficient resources provided by Russia to retrain them well.
It’s believed that the presence of some Syrian volunteers hinders combat missions due to the difficulty of understanding due to the language barrier.
Generally speaking, Syrian volunteers work for Russian forces performing logistical tasks near the front lines in regions such as Lugansk and Donetsk.
They are tasked with protecting vital sites and securing military corridors and supplies.
It’s noted that they are transferred to the front lines only in necessary cases, and it was seen that some Syrian volunteers belonging to private military companies participated in battles at Donetsk and Kherson fronts.
Despite this new recruitment of Syrian volunteers into the ranks of the Russian forces, their role seems to be limited mainly to non-combat missions, which indicates that they don’t constitute the main force in the fight in Ukraine.
