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Belarus to Send 200 Troops to Syria Alongside Russians

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, center, attend meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, center, attend meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP)
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Belarus to Send 200 Troops to Syria Alongside Russians

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, center, attend meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP)
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, center, attend meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP)

Belarus plans to deploy up to 200 troops to Syria to serve alongside Russian forces in the country, according to a Russian government document released Monday, a move strongly condemned by Belarus' opposition leader.

A draft agreement between Russia and its ally Belarus endorsed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin says that the Belarusian troops will work to provide “humanitarian assistance” to the population outside combat zones.

The document, which is yet to be signed by the countries' foreign and defense ministries, states that Belarusian troops will act under operational control of the Russian military in Syria when deployed to the country.

Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since 2015, teaming up with Iran to help Syrian President Bashar Assad's government reclaim control over most of the country after a devastating war.

The planned deployment of Belarusian troops' to Syria reflects increasingly close defense ties between the two ex-Soviet neighbors and allies.

In recent weeks, Russia has moved troops from Siberia and the Far East to Belarus for sweeping joint drills. The deployment added to the Russian military buildup near Ukraine, fueling Western fears of a possible invasion.

Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has increasingly relied on the Kremlin’s political and financial support amid bruising Western sanctions triggered by his crackdown on domestic protests, has called for closer defense ties with Moscow and recently offered to host Russian nuclear weapons.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition challenger to Lukashenko who was forced to leave the country after Lukashenko's re-election to a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that the opposition and the West saw as rigged, strongly criticized the deal for sending Belarusian troops to Syria.

She described the move as Lukashenko's payback for Moscow's support, arguing that it violates the country's constitution and runs contrary to the national interests.

“Lukashenko is paying with Belarus' sovereignty for the support he received in 2020 that helped him stay in power,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press.

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Arab World

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."