Reports: Around 20,000 foreign fighters in northern Syria including Ukrainians
Reports quoting experts on Syrian affairs confirmed that there are Ukrainian forces fighting within the factions confronting the Syrian army in Syria, pointing out that the number of foreign fighters in Idlib province exceeds 20,000 people, coming from areas in Central Asia.
They explained that this participation comes within the framework of the unity of battles between Kiev and the Syrian opposition factions, in light of NATO’s classification of Syria as part of the anti-NATO alliance, which includes Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
Foreign fighters who joined the armed factions in Syria began arriving gradually since 2011 until recent months, and include individuals from Russia and several former Soviet Union republics, such as Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and they are still present in the region.
In a related context, Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the London based, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed that foreign officers trained members of Hay’at Tahrir al Sham on the use of drones, which played an important role in the surprise attack launched by the armed factions on the Syrian army’s positions.
