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'Foreign Volunteers' During War Complicate the 'Conflict'

More than 36,000 foreign fighters have joined the war, 16,000 joined the Ukrainian army, while statistics indicate that over 20,000 "mercenaries" joined the Russian military.
More than 36,000 foreign fighters have joined the war, 16,000 joined the Ukrainian army, while statistics indicate that over 20,000 "mercenaries" joined the Russian military.
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'Foreign Volunteers' During War Complicate the 'Conflict'

More than 36,000 foreign fighters have joined the war, 16,000 joined the Ukrainian army, while statistics indicate that over 20,000 "mercenaries" joined the Russian military.
More than 36,000 foreign fighters have joined the war, 16,000 joined the Ukrainian army, while statistics indicate that over 20,000 "mercenaries" joined the Russian military.

Amid much fanfare, sympathizers flock to Ukraine, which established a legion of foreign volunteers to help the Ukrainian people repel the Russian invasion.

In the lexicon of war, volunteers who join a rebel force or militia are typically called "foreign fighters," while mercenaries are generally employed by a state and fight for profit or personal gain.

More than 36,000 foreign fighters have joined the war, 16,000 joined the Ukrainian army, while statistics indicate that over 20,000 "mercenaries" joined the Russian military.

The Ukrainian army did not accept all the volunteers. Some were refused, while others were sent back to their homelands, and only those who had previous military experience were allowed to join.

President Volodymyr Zelensky made a plea for foreign volunteers on February 27 at the very beginning of the conflict.

"Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe, and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals."

Ukraine's foreign minister elaborated on that initial plea a few days later, and Ukraine set up a website in this regard for foreign volunteers.

By early March, Zelensky claimed that 16,000 people had signed up for the foreign legion. Given that the Ukrainian army was only 145,000 strong at the beginning of the conflict, this would have significantly boosted its strength.

The foreign volunteers also provided dramatic evidence of worldwide support for the Ukrainian cause.

"What can history tell us about successful foreign volunteer efforts?" asks Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Cancian explained in an article that in the mid-1930s, Spain was experiencing social chaos after overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a democratic but weak republic. Left and right fought bitterly. In July 1936, the Spanish military revolted and began a civil war.

The Soviet Union supported the republic, and the Soviet Union's international arm, called the Communist International, or COMINTERN, began recruiting party members and others to fight.
They formed national battalions to simplify communication and cohesion and reflect their recruitment by national organizations.

The US formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the French the Commune de Paris Battalion, the Italians the Garibaldi Battalion, the Germans the Thalmann Brigade, and so on.

Cancian said that one purpose of any foreign volunteer operation is political, showing worldwide support for the cause and appearing to distribute "the burdens." Ultimately, however, only a militarily effective force brings both battlefield advantage and international credibility.

"A just cause and individual enthusiasm are not enough. Producing military effectiveness requires a highly organized effort of training, supply, and personnel administration."

Retired Marine Colonel Andrew Milburn went to Ukraine and described how the volunteers were doing. In short, it was a fiasco.

He depicted a scene of inexperience, war tourism, and idealism: "A swarm of Fantasists for everyone candidate with experience in combat. And even combat experience means little in this war—because trading shots with the Taliban or al Qaeda is quite different from crouching in a freezing foxhole being pummeled by artillery fire."

Virtually the entire first crop of recruits was sent home, as Milburn described, "without ceremony or official notification."

Faced with this disappointing result, Ukraine announced limiting participation to those with prior military or medical training.

Meanwhile, Russia announced, through its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, that about 16,000 fighters from the Middle East have applied to fight alongside Russia.

President Vladimir Putin said that mercenaries from all over the world are being sent to Ukraine, and they do not conceal it, the Western sponsors of Ukraine, the Ukrainian regime, do not hide it.

Speaking at a meeting with top security officials in March, Putin announced that he had opened the door for foreign volunteer fighters willing to help the people in Donbas.

"The infusion of outsiders and "irregular forces" could further complicate an already messy conflict," reported the New Yorker.

"The battlefield in Ukraine is incredibly complex, with a range of violent non-state actors—private military contractors, foreign fighters, volunteers, mercenaries, extremists, and terrorist groups—all in the mix," it concluded.

The US and the UN deemed the tens of thousands who joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq as foreign terrorist fighters, not mercenaries. "But such definitions are tricky—and easily contested."

The Russian Defense Ministry has referred to any foreigners caught in Ukraine's International Legion as mercenaries.

"At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals," the Defense Ministry announced.

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In Assad's Hometown, Few Shared in His Family's Fortune. They Hope they Won't Share in His Downfall

A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
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In Assad's Hometown, Few Shared in His Family's Fortune. They Hope they Won't Share in His Downfall

A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
A defaced portrait of ousted president Bashar al-Assad hangs on the wall of a building in the capital Damascus on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

On the walls of the palatial mausoleum built to house the remains of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, vandals have sprayed variations of the phrase, “Damn your soul, Hafez.”
Nearly two weeks after the ouster of his son, Bashar Assad, people streamed in to take photos next to the burned-out hollow where the elder Assad’s grave used to be. It was torched by opposition fighters after a lightning offensive overthrew Assad's government, bringing more than a half-century rule by the Assad dynasty to an end, The Associated Press said.
The mausoleum's sprawling grounds — and the surrounding area, where the ousted president and other relatives had villas — were until recently off limits to residents of Qardaha, the former presidential dynasty's hometown in the mountains overlooking the coastal city of Latakia.
Nearby, Bashar Assad’s house was emptied by looters, who left the water taps running to flood it. At a villa belonging to three of his cousins, a father and his two young sons were removing pipes to sell the scrap metal. A gutted piano was tipped over on the floor.
While the Assads lived in luxury, most Qardaha residents — many, like Assad, members of the Alawite minority sect — survived on manual labor, low-level civil service jobs and farming to eke out a living. Many sent their sons to serve in the army, not out of loyalty to the government but because they had no other option.
“The situation was not what the rest of the Syrian society thought,” said Deeb Dayoub, an Alawite sheikh. “Everyone thought Qardaha was a city built on a marble rock and a square of aquamarine in every house," he said, referring to the trappings of wealth enjoyed by Assad's family.
In the city’s main street, a modest strip of small grocery stores and clothing shops, Ali Youssef, stood next to a coffee cart, gesturing with disdain. “This street is the best market and the best street in Qardaha and it’s full of potholes.”
Families resorted to eating bread dipped in oil and salt because they could not afford meat or vegetables, he said. Youssef said he dodged mandatory military service for two years, but eventually was forced to go.
“Our salary was 300,000 Syrian pounds,” a month, he said — just over $20. “We used to send it to our families to pay the rent or live and eat with it" while working jobs on the side to cover their own expenses.
"Very few people benefited from the former deposed regime,” Youssef said.
So far, residents said, the security forces made up of fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — the main group in the coalition that unseated Assad, and which is now ruling the country — have been respectful toward them.
“The security situation is fine so far, it’s acceptable, no major issues,” said Mariam al-Ali, who was in the market with her daughter. “There were a few abuses ... but it was fixed.” She did not elaborate, but others said there had been scattered incidents of robberies and looting or threats and insults.
Al-Ali called Assad a “traitor,” but she remained circumspect about her Alawite community's position in the new Syria.
“The most important thing is that there should be no sectarianism, so there will be no more blood spilled,” she said.
Dayoub, the Alawite sheikh, described “a state of anticipation and caution among all citizens in this area, and in general among Alawites,” although he said fears have started to ease.
At the town’s municipal building, dozens of notables sat on bleachers discussing the country' s new reality and what they hoped to convey to the new leadership.
Much was centered around economic woes — retired public servants' salaries had not been paid, the price of fuel had risen, there was no public transportation in the area.
But others had larger concerns.
“We hope that in the next government or the new Syria, we will have rights and duties like any Syrian citizen — we are not asking for any more or less,” said Jaafar Ahmed, a doctoral student and community activist. “We don’t accept the curtailment of our rights because the regime was part of this component.”
Questions also loomed about the fate of the area's sons who had served in Assad's army.
Since the army's collapse in the face of the opposition advance, residents said several thousand young army recruits from Qardaha have gone missing. Some later turned up on lists of former soldiers being held at a detention center in Hama.
“These are young guys who are 22 or 23 and they never took part" in active combat, said Qais Ibrahim, whose nephews were among the missing. Over the past few years, active combat was largely frozen in the country's civil war. “We send our children to the army because we don’t have any other source of income.”
Um Jaafar, who gave only her nickname out of fear of reprisals, said the family had no information about the fate of her two sons, stationed with the army in Raqqa and Deir Ezzour, though one son's name later turned up on the list of those imprisoned in Hama.
“My children got the best grades in school, but I didn’t have the ability to send them to the university,” she said. “They went to the army just for a salary that was barely enough to cover their transportation costs.”
Syria's new authorities have set up “reconciliation centers” around the country where former soldiers can register, hand over their weapons and receive a “reconciliation ID” allowing them to move freely and safely in Syria for three months.
But Ahmed, the doctoral student, said he wants more. As the country attempts to unify and move on after nearly 14 years of civil war, he said, “We want either forgiveness for all or accountability for all.”
Ahmed acknowledged that during the war, “rural Latakia was responsible for some radical groups,” referring to pro-Assad militias accused of widespread abuses against civilians. But, he said, opposition groups also committed abuses.
“We hope that there will be either an open process of reconciliation ... or transitional justice in which all will be held accountable for their mistakes, from all parties," he said.
"We can’t talk about holding accountable one ... group but not another.”