Syria: Syria recruiting troops from its military to fight with Russian forces in Ukraine
Syria’s military has begun recruiting troops from its own ranks to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, promising payments of $3,000 a month – a sum up to 50 times a Syrian soldier’s monthly salary.
Enlistment notices have been posted on regime linked websites in recent days, including profiles linked to the 4th Division, one of Bashar al-Assad’s core units. One such advert states that troops who sign up will be fighting in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday for what he claimed would be up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East deploying alongside Russian-backed rebels fighting in Ukraine, as the two-week-old invasion struggles to maintain momentum.
Russia’s defence ministry said the deployment would be made to the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where much of the recent fighting had been focused.