Russian Official Calls on Damascus to Expel Wagner Fighters

Wagner mercenaries seen in Belarus in July. (AFP)
Wagner mercenaries seen in Belarus in July. (AFP)
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Russian Official Calls on Damascus to Expel Wagner Fighters

Wagner mercenaries seen in Belarus in July. (AFP)
Wagner mercenaries seen in Belarus in July. (AFP)

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov paid a recent visit to Syria where he met with military officials to discuss several files, including the Russian Wagner mercenaries deployed in the war-torn country, revealed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Yevkurov advised Syrian officials of the need to inform Wagner militants to withdraw from Syria or join Russian troops deployed there, it added.

Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas met with Wagner leaderships in Syria and proposed that they lay down their arms and pull out of Syria within a month, or join the Russian troops there and work under their command.

The Observatory had revealed in June that the Russian forces had given the Wagner mercenaries the choice between leaving Syria or joining the Russian military, amid fears that the militants could mutiny against the Russian troops and Damascus regime.

Over 2,000 Wagner mercenaries are deployed in Syria. They mainly hail from countries of the former Soviet Union. They are mainly deployed at oil fields in the Syrian Badia, or desert, and in regions held by Turkish forces.

Over 3,000 Syrians are employed by Wagner inside and outside Syria, according to the Observatory.

Wagner has played a pivotal role in tipping the Syrian war in the regime’s favor. The mercenaries carried out military operations in Syria that were supervised by the Russian military.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after a deadly plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the volatile chief of the mercenary group.

Putin signed the decree bringing in the change with immediate effect on Friday.



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.