Under Guise of Russian Companies, ‘Unknown Parties’ Recruit Syrians to Head to Venezuela

Laborers work on a railroad in northwestern Syria. (AFP)
Laborers work on a railroad in northwestern Syria. (AFP)
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Under Guise of Russian Companies, ‘Unknown Parties’ Recruit Syrians to Head to Venezuela

Laborers work on a railroad in northwestern Syria. (AFP)
Laborers work on a railroad in northwestern Syria. (AFP)

Several reports have emerged over “unknown parties”, which operate under the guise of Russian companies, recruiting Syrians to fight for Russian forces in countries witnessing conflict.

The companies are active in regions controlled by the Syrian regime. Significantly, these groups are recruiting Syrians to travel to Venezuela, after initially being limited to Libya.

Financial incentives
Local sources in the Sahel al-Ghab region in the Hama countryside told Asharq Al-Awsat that recent recruitment processes were carried out by companies that spoke on behalf of Russian companies. The Syrians were persuaded to head to conflict-ravaged Libya in exchange for financial incentives.

They added that recruits are paid anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 dollars per month in return for fighting alongside the Libyan National Army (LNA) against the forces of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, which is backed by Turkey.

Ankara, for its part, has been sending its own Syrian fighters, who had joined opposition factions in Syria that are backed by Turkey.

Earlier this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Turkey had sent more than 20,000 Syrian “mercenaries” to battles in Azerbaijan and Libya. Some 18,000 were sent to Arab countries in North Africa.

It revealed that recruitment offices have been set up in areas that are controlled by Ankara-backed factions in northern Syria.

On the other side of the divide, the sources said that dozens of people have been recruited by the companies speaking on Russia’s behalf in the Sahel al-Ghab area.

Many of the recruits have agreed to head to Libya because of the dire economic situation in Syria that was caused by the war and the sanctions imposed against the Damascus regime, they explained.

A local news network, DeirEzzour 24, had previously reported that Russian forces had relied on military commanders and elders in Deir Ezzour to recruit youths to fight in Libya in return for a monthly salary of over 2,000 dollars.

Reports over the summer confirmed that “unknown parties”, operating on behalf of Russian companies, were recruiting youths in Damascus’ eastern Ghouta region to join the fight in Libya.

Sudden activity
Syrian journalist Tariq Ajib said on Friday that “unknown sides, which keep their identity secret and are operating through agents and Syrians working for Russian companies, have witnessed a sharp rise in suspicious activity in Damascus, Homs, Tartus, Latakia and possibly other regions.”

In a Facebook post, he revealed that they were actively recruiting men and youths to serve as “guards” at “state facilities” in Venezuela. They are being paid a monthly salary of 4,000 and provided with a residency permit. Moreover, these agents are working on recruiting women as “seamstresses and domestic workers” for a salary of 1,500 and a residency permit.

The recruits are set to fly out to Venezuela on November 15. They will depart from Russia’s air base of Hmeimim on the Syrian coast.

Ajib said: “There is no need to go into the details as to why our people are clamoring to join unknown parties. The reasons are well-known.”

“The most shameful part of these recruitments and activities is that the parties in charge are promoting themselves as supporters of the Syrian people and keen on improving their living and financial conditions,” he added.

“In reality, they are abusing the poverty of large segments of society, as well as the elderly and women, who are unable to provide their most basic needs and who have lost all hope in the future. They therefore, throw themselves into the unknown,” he lamented.

Warning of fraud
Ajib continued: “It is painful for women and girls, as well as men in their seventies and eighties, to agree to suspicious contracts with these companies.”

“We cannot overlook the possibility of fraud and that the recruits may end up as mercenaries,” he warned.

Russia, which reports have linked to the Wagner mercenary group in Libya, has repeatedly denied allegations that it was linked to such armed activity.

Russian media circles openly confirm that businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin is behind such groups. Prigozhin is close to the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry. He was previously linked to sending fighters to Ukraine, Syria and other countries, especially in central Africa.

Moscow had recently increased its recruitment of Syrians to fight in the southern Caucasus region in wake of the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabagh region.



Gazan Child Amputee Dreams Big after Evacuation to Qatar

Mahmoud Ajjour, an injured child evacuated from Gaza, sits at home with his mother as she teaches him to write using his feet, in Doha, Qatar, September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Purchase Licensing Rights
Mahmoud Ajjour, an injured child evacuated from Gaza, sits at home with his mother as she teaches him to write using his feet, in Doha, Qatar, September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

Gazan Child Amputee Dreams Big after Evacuation to Qatar

Mahmoud Ajjour, an injured child evacuated from Gaza, sits at home with his mother as she teaches him to write using his feet, in Doha, Qatar, September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Purchase Licensing Rights
Mahmoud Ajjour, an injured child evacuated from Gaza, sits at home with his mother as she teaches him to write using his feet, in Doha, Qatar, September 11, 2024. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Purchase Licensing Rights

Evacuated to Qatar from the chaos of Gaza, nine-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Youssef Ajjour still dreams of becoming a pilot one day despite losing his arms in an Israeli rocket attack.

In a small apartment in Doha, Ajjour's mother slowly eases him into his uniform to help him get ready for school. It will take some time to fit him with artificial limbs.

The rocket hit as he was walking away from his Gaza home in December with his father and mother, he said.

"I was lying on the ground, I didn't know what hit me, I didn't know that I lost my arms" Reuters quoted Ajjour as saying.

He was operated on in Gaza with limited anaesthetic, waking up from the operation in great pain and with his arms gone, his mother said.

Yet he is one of the lucky ones, escaping the shattered territory, where many hospitals have been destroyed and doctors say they often have to perform surgery without any anaesthetic and pain killers.

Qatar has taken in some injured Gazans for treatment as it tries to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas along with the United States and Egypt that would see the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. There is still no sign of agreement.

Ajjour longs for Gaza, which was vibrant before the conflict despite widespread poverty and high unemployment in what was one of the world's most densely populated places.

His home was destroyed in the Israeli offensive triggered by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive has killed at least 41,118 Palestinians and wounded 95,125, according to the Gaza health ministry. Nearly two million people have been displaced and the territory has become a wasteland.

"I want Gaza to be beautiful again," Ajjour says.

At the long-established Palestinian School in Doha, he sits patiently while his classmates write things down and raises his voice alongside them as they answer a teacher's questions.

The school psychologist, Hanin Al Salamat, sees in him a source of inspiration. "He gives us strength," she says.

He refuses to let physical limitations define him.

"I will keep trying everything," he says with conviction. "I will become a pilot, and I will play soccer with my friends."