Norwegians are fighting on the Russian side in Syria

The soldier poses with what appears as AK-74 machine guns and the Norwegian flag, claiming to have made their own troop in Syria under the name «Thorbrandr», or Torbrand.

Behind enemy lines

According to one of the soldiers who had been interviewed anonymously by the website «Scandinavian freedom», the troop was in operation in Syria «winter, spring and summer 2017».

The interview is titled «Exclusive interview: Skandinaver som strider mot IS».

In the spring we were on the offensive and often in direct contact with the enemy, both during the daytime and in the dark at night time, one of the soldiers told the site, which is the speaker and forum for the right-wing Scandinavian Association in Sweden, which was founded last year’s February.

The activist group Nordic Youth is included as the youth organization in this movement.

Both groups are right-wing extremist, activist and openly anti-Semitics, according to Expo in Sweden.

Fighting side by side with the Russians

The soldier states that the troop, referred by the Swedish website as «a Scandinavian federation», received orders from Russian military forces and entered into Russia’s military command structure in Syria.

Our unit was integrated with the Russian military forces.

Russia has since 2015 called Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad to get permission to participate in the war against the globally dangerous fundamentalist terrorist group of IS.

When such a large country entered the battle, the world saw what and who could really fight terror.

During the period from the spring of 2016 to the end of 2017, the balance of the conflict zone has changed completely.

Russia clenched the spine of IS in Syria and our troop participated side by side, the soldier proudly told the site.

Police Security Service (PST) states to Norwegian website aldrimer.no that Norwegian citizens’ participation in acts of war abroad may be affected by the Penal Code.

However, PST appears to be very little interested in commenting on the fact that Norwegian troops with potentially right-wing extremist sympathies or relations may have fought on the Russian side in the war in Syria.

Most are from the Nordic countries

According to the soldier, who doesn’t recognize his nationality, but which is indirectly described as Norwegian, describes the troop he entered into as «motorized infantry», but also had access to tanks and «heavy weapons».

The unit brings together volunteer warriors, most of them from Europe.

The troop, or better known as the «section», was called «Thorbrandr,» says the soldier.

Were there several soldiers from Norway or Scandinavia in your department? ask the site.

The commander of «Thorbrandr» was called «Norðmaður», he is a Norwegian.

Most members of the section are from the Nordic countries and come from Norway, Sweden and Iceland, the soldier replies.

Norwegian filename

Several of photos that the high-rise website has published and claimed to show Norwegian and Nordic soldiers in Syria has Norwegian-language filenames.

aldrimer.no has also examined the metadata of the images with a so-called exit viewer.

It shows that more of the pictures were taken in April and May last year, which supports the version given in the interview of the period in which the troop should have been active in Syria.

But other images, especially those showing the soldiers, appear to be washed for metadata.

According to the soldier, the section was most active in the first three months, with the main focus on acquiring intelligence and mapping hostile positions, the number of IS infantry and the type of warfare used in the Syria area where the troop was active.

They’re using drones

It required us to move a lot behind enemy lines and work in the shadow of the darkness.

We often used drones to collect the information we needed.

Then we could plan how the troop could take over the main support points that IS controlled, the soldier claims to the right-wing site.

The Nordic unit also claims to have received assistance from Russian artillery shooting to take out an IS camp at night time in the summer of last year.

In the dark we crept quite close to the IS camp. Our task was to map the number of IS soldiers and what kind of weapon they had and, if possible, guide and correct artillery shooting from Russian forces located in the fire department.

It was a fairly big camp with around 50 IS fighters, multiple tanks and terrain cars.

«North» decided to request artillery shooting, the soldier claims and adds: «A while later, the camp was overturned and was on fire.

The warehouse burned and exploded.

Ammunition ships exploded so that projectiles went into the air.

About half the IS strength survived the shelling, but came out of the chaos very disorganized.

According to the soldier, the Norwegian commander of the troop ordered to kill the fleeting IS soldiers.

Those of the enemy who survived and could move by their own help tried to save themselves.

»North” gave the order to «Thorbrandr» to quit it all.

No IS fighters would have the opportunity to escape.

The order was carried out exemplary, says the anonymous soldier to the website of Scandinavian freedom.