The collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria following a lightning rebel offensive in November has shaken Assad-ally Russia’s near-decade of influence in the country.
It has also had one other lesser-known consequence: disrupting Moscow’s ability to recruit Syrian fighters for its war in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent spent several months analyzing Russian recruitment in Syria. We uncovered that Russia has been luring Syrians to fight in Ukraine from at least March 2022 to October 2024, not long before anti-regime rebels overtook the country in December .
It’s impossible to assess how many Syrians were recruited to fight against Ukraine. Different reports cite eyewitnesses who suggest that groups of recruits sent from Syria to Russia could number from 45 to 500 people.
But what is known is that the recruitment campaign was systematic and involved many actors.
According to the testimonies of Syrian recruits and their relatives, Russian recruiters often resorted to deception, to sign up fighters from Syria. It appears that recruited Syrians were frequently used in the Russian army's assault units, notorious for their blatant disregard for casualties.
Systematic recruitment
Ukraine's intelligence dossier on Russia's recruitment operations in Syria, provided to the Kyiv Independent by a source, suggests that Russia had an extensive network of recruitment.
Some of the information in the dossier can’t be independently verified. Other assessments can be confirmed through reports in independent media and testimonies recorded by human rights organizations.
According to the dossier’s Russia’s recruitment network in Syria operated at different levels.
First, Russia used the presence of its own regular army and related structures in Syria. This included the activities of Russia’s so-called "reconciliation centers," set up allegedly to facilitate negotiations between the rebels and the Assad regime, as well as distribute humanitarian aid. In reality, the centers were used to spread Russian influence in Syria.
It also helped that Russia’s military presence in Syria had a wide network that included maintaining observation posts and conducting policing raids, under the cover of which Russians recruited Syrians to join the Russian army.
Syrians were often promised "work in the rear," such as guarding facilities, logistics, and medical support. They were offered tempting salaries by Syrian standards.
Another arm of recruitment was the network of Syrian recruiters and organizations affiliated with the Kremlin-backed private military company Wagner Group. One of the best-known of these companies was the al-Sayyad Company for Guarding and Protection Services, also known as "IS Hunters." In July 2022, al-Sayyad, along with its director, Fawaz Mikhail Gerges, and co-owner, Yasar Husein Ibrahim, were sanctioned by the EU over the company’s activity “in the recruitment of Syrian mercenaries to Libya and Ukraine” and ties to the Assad regime.
Both individual brokers and paramilitary "private security companies" affiliated with the Wagner Group were actively recruiting Syrians to serve in Libya before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, they began recruiting fighters for the war in Ukraine. Sanad Protection and Security Services was one of the companies actively recruiting Syrians. Sanad’s owners, Ahmed Khalil and Nassser Deeb, as well as the company itself, were sanctioned by the EU in 2022 over its ties with Wagner, the Assad regime, and the recruitment of Syrian mercenaries to fight in Libya and Ukraine. After Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's unsuccessful uprising in July 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry took control of Wagner's assets in Syria. Recruitment continued.
Some “private security companies” involved in recruiting Syrians for military service in Russia were nominally independent but affiliated with the Syrian regime through their owners' business connections.
One such company was ProGuard for Safety and Security Services LLC. The dossier claims that ProGuard was authorized by both Assad and the Russian military to recruit throughout all Assad-controlled territory of Syria in 2022-2023. One of the co-founders of ProGuard, Hashim Anwar al-Aqqad, was sanctioned by the EU back in 2014 over his ties with the Assad regime.
The recruitment operation involved Russian citizens as well. One of the largest recruiting centers in Tartus, a major port in western Syria on the Mediterranean coast, was run by a Russian, identified in the Ukrainian intelligence as “Colonel Vladimir Surdanov.” He was allegedly assisted by a high-ranking officer from one of the regime's special services, and a brigadier general retired from the Assad regime's army.
The dossier also claims that the regime's special services representatives were directly involved in recruitment. Local authorities allegedly also facilitated recruitment.
According to the dossier, this was the case in most of the regime-controlled territories, including the cities of Latakia, Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, Damascus and the surrounding area, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, and the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
Independent Syrian media have also reported on the involvement of Assad's special services in recruitment. The reports mentioned that representatives of the General Intelligence Directorate, Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate also participated in signing up fighters. These agencies dealt mainly with internal issues in Assad-controlled territory.
Members of the Baath party, the ruling party of the Assad regime, were also involved in recruitment, according to a report by Syrians for Truth and Justice, a human rights organization that recorded the testimonies of Syrians who tried to sign up.
Among the recruitment efforts was a dedicated campaign targeting those who were already serving in the Syrian regime's army, as well as veterans. As early as March 2022, recruitment was actively advertised on forums and social media. In one case, an ad of "Deployment to Ukraine" was posted on a private social media group of the 4th Armored Division, led by Bashar al-Assad's younger brother Maher. In other cases, Syrian officers selected soldiers for "trips to Ukraine" at their discretion.
Among the most active in seeking "volunteers" for the Russian army were the notorious Russian-backed 25th Special Mission Forces Division, also known as the Tiger Forces, the 16th Division, various units of the 5th Corps, and the Liwa al-Quds, also known as the Jerusalem Brigade, a unit of Palestinians who fought on the side of the Assad regime.
Some reports by Syrian organizations also indicated that Russian leadership was sending “Syrian mercenaries” mostly affiliated with the Wagner Group that had earlier served in Libya or Syria to fight in Ukraine
Oleg Sukhov
‘Within 5 days, he’s become Russian’
Wahid Mursel Al-Shibli, a young man in his twenties from the town of Ariqa in the As-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria, was one of the Syrians who fell prey to those recruiting for the Russian army.
According to Syrian independent media outlet Suwayda24, a local intermediary promised him "work in the rear" and a tempting salary. Al-Shibli and six other Syrians from the same region were sent to Russia in February 2024.
Six months later, on Sept. 15, Al-Shibli’s fellow Syrian soldiers informed his relatives that he had been killed in the fighting in Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine.
In May 2024, the independent media outlet Suwayda24 published an audio message from Al-Shibli to his uncle.
"They made me walk on this. I've never walked over human corpses before," the man sounded exhausted and desperate.
He described the horrors of the war in Ukraine and begged to be rescued and to be brought back to Syria.
"Scorched earth... It's something terrifying... Bodies in the middle. Burned trees, burned people... The situation is very bad here… So I’m begging you, as soon as you get this voice clip, act immediately. It has become a situation of life or death."
"Scorched earth... It's something terrifying... Bodies in the middle. Burned trees, burned people... The situation is very bad here… So I’m begging you, as soon as you get this voice clip, act immediately. It has become a situation of life or death."
Al-Shibli was killed within the next three months. According to what his relatives heard from his Syrian comrades, he was abandoned on the battlefield after being injured, with fellow soldiers saying he couldn’t be evacuated.
His story is far from unique.
An independent Syrian researcher Qalaat Al Mudiq has reported on the case of Ala Batal, a Syrian recruit who fought for Russia. His family told Al Mudiq that Batal had suffered from neglect in the Russian army. After his first injury, he didn’t get proper treatment. Instead, he was sent back to the front lines, where he was later killed.
His family in the Aleppo Governorate was not informed of his death until two months later.
The family didn’t get Batal’s body back. All they have is a photo of his grave in an unnamed location, presumably in Russia. In the photo, there is a funeral wreath signed by the Russian Defense Ministry.
One of the rare pieces of evidence of how Syrians are recruited into the Russian army is a video that was obtained and shared by an independent Syrian media outlet, Suwayda24, in January 2024. It shows a group of Syrian men posing with their new Russian passports and mobile phones. They are thanking “Dr. Akram” for helping them obtain the passports. It’s not clear if “Dr. Akram” is the man filming the video.
"Within five days, he's become a Russian," the man behind the camera comments, pointing at one of the Syrians. “And everyone bought a phone... And cigarettes... And may Allah keep you under his gaze."
From open sources, we were able to find that "Dr. Akram" is one of the intermediaries and translators who was assisting Syrians and recruits from other Arabic-speaking countries in Russia.
From local media reports, it appears that "Dr. Akram" worked with one of the most notorious recruiters, Wassim Fawaz al-Dimashqi, who previously worked for Wagner Group and recruited Syrians to Libya. Syrian media sources indicate that al-Dimashqi's activities were so reckless that he was even arrested by Assad's special services in March 2024 "for forging travel documents." The Ukrainian intelligence dossier also points to al-Dimashqi as one of the most active recruiters in the As-Suwayda Governorate.
In an audio message sent home by Syrian recruits, published by Lebanese-born journalist Wadei Al-Hayek in February 2024, a person identified as one of the Syrians recruited by Russia complains about being deceived by al-Dimashqi and his accomplices.
"We were sold to the Russian army...Wassim al-Dimashqi...is selling us,” he is heard saying. “We do not know the language here. We are signing papers and don't understand anything. The translator here has sold us out and has received dollars for us."
The traces of Syrians in the Russian army are scarce and are sometimes found in unexpected places — such as a propaganda video featuring a Russian military chaplain.
One is a video published by one of the propaganda channels of Russian proxies in Ukraine in February 2024. It shows Archpriest Pyotr Gritsenko of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is identified as "the Deputy Head Priest” of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” — the official propaganda term for Russia’s war in Ukraine. The caption says that "50 Syrians have arrived to defend Donbas."
To support this claim, the priest talks to an Arabic-speaking man in a Russian uniform, who calls himself Bassam Seed. He only introduces himself and says into the camera, "Pray for me.” According to a native speaker of Arabic that the Kyiv Independent showed the video to, the man has a Syrian accent but the phrase may indicate that he is Christian.
In another video, Russians are giving out gloves as aid to foreigners identified as "volunteers from Somalia, India, and Syria." The scene allegedly occurs during shooting practice at a "rear training area." One of the men says he is from Syria and introduces himself as Hussein Muhammad.
The video appears to seek to demonstrate that foreigners support Russia and join its war voluntarily, but doesn’t touch upon how the foreign soldiers ended up in the Russian army, or why they had to rely on aid to get gloves.
Kollen Post
Where did the recruited Syrians go?
According to the Ukrainian intelligence dossier, in 2024, the Russian military command sent Syrians mainly to Donetsk Oblast and the Kharkiv axis. Syrian media and human rights activists also mentioned the presence of Syrian recruits in Luhansk Oblast.
In 2022, there were also reports of Syrians being sent to Kherson Oblast. In some cases, they allegedly were to carry out “guarding missions,” not only partake in combat.
Most of those recruited also received at least nominal training from Russian instructors. Basic military training allegedly took place in Syria. After that, according to the Ukrainian intelligence dossier, Syrian fighters received a basic course in the Russian language and practiced using various weapons at training fields in Russia.
Rostov-on-Don, a city in southwestern Russia bordering the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, is most often cited as a place where Syrian recruits went through training or were temporarily stationed. Russia’s Belgorod and Rostov oblasts, as well as Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk Oblast, have also been mentioned.
Sometimes, the path of Syrians recruited into the Russian army was more complicated and somewhat incoherent. Some were promised "jobs" far from the fighting (in eastern Siberia, for example). Victims of deception flew from Syria to Moscow or other Russian cities, where they boarded a plane to Yakutia in eastern Russia. There, the recruits received Russian passports and signed contracts (with the "assistance" of an Arabic-speaking translator provided by the recruiters).
Shortly thereafter, to the Syrians' surprise, they were told that, according to the terms of the contracts, they would have to undergo training at one of the military training grounds in Buryatia in Russia’s far east, or in the western part of Russia. Their next stop was combat units of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence dossier suggests that Syrian recruits in the Russian army in 2024 were often killed in action. Some ended up in the Russian airborne forces, often used as shock troops. The Kyiv Independent hasn’t been able to find evidence that any Syrians who were recruited and fought in Ukraine managed to return home to Syria.
Aleppo — Tehran — Moscow
How exactly did the recruited Syrians get to the front lines? The recruiters and their accomplices used various methods and routes.
The Ukrainian intelligence’s dossier shows that one of the most common methods was to bring recruits to the Khmeimim airbase in western Syria, operated by Russia. From there, they were allegedly transported by Russian military transport aircraft to Rostov-on-Don, a city in southwestern Russia.
Another method mentioned in the dossier implied that recruited Syrians allegedly boarded Russian commercial cargo ships that were traveling between the regime-controlled ports and Russia.
The dossiers mention three vessels that were allegedly involved in transporting Syrian recruits: Lady Maria, Baltic Leader, and Sparta IV, all of which are owned by Russian companies.
The Kyiv Independent was unable to verify the claims about the first two independently. Vessels involved in illegal or sanctioned activities often disable their transponders so that their location or the ports they call at are not displayed in maritime traffic monitoring services.
In the case of Sparta IV, however, Marine Traffic data shows that the vessel was at the port of Tartus in Syria several times between 2019 and 2023. In 2023, the captain of the Sparta IV, a Russian national Alexey Tereshchenko, was charged in absentia by the Security Service of Ukraine on suspicion of transporting military equipment from Syria to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Syrian media and human rights organizations also describe cases of recruits being taken from Khmeimim to Mozdok, a city in the North Caucasus with a large number of military bases, or Moscow.
There is also evidence that in 2022, Syrians who served in Libya boarded Cham Wings, a private Syrian airline owned by one of Assad’s allies, to take flights from Benghazi to Damascus. They were allegedly flown from Damascus to Khmeimim, where Russian Tu-154s were sent out for Moscow.
In one case, a plane carrying recruits allegedly took off from the outskirts of Homs for Russia in 2022. In another case, recruits from the Latakia, As-Suwayda, Aleppo and Homs Governorates boarded a civilian plane from the airport of Damascus to an airport in the Moscow region, according to Suwayda24.
One group of soldiers from the 16th Division of the Assad regime's army headed to Ukraine had to make a connection, according to a report by Syrian human rights organization, Syrians for Truth and Justice. Mahan Air, a private Iranian airline sanctioned in the EU over transferring weapons and related technologies to Russia, took them from Aleppo to Tehran. From the Iranian capital, they flew to Moscow, and then were taken to a Russian-occupied town in Luhansk Oblast.
The end of Assad’s rule in Syria means that Moscow will not be able to recruit Syrians, at least in the near future. But Russia’s predatory recruitment of foreign fighters does not end there. Evidence is mounting that the Kremlin maintains recruitment networks in post-Soviet countries and dozens of countries in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Recently, Russia has been reinforced by the addition of the North Korean troops. In December, reports emerged of North Korean soldiers being killed in large numbers in clashes with Ukrainian forces. As seen with fighters from Syria, the deaths of foreign recruits at the front appear to have little impact on Russia's broader recruitment efforts.
Nizar Al Rifai has contributed to this report.
Note from the author:
Hi, I'm Kostiantyn Nechyporenko, the author of this story. If you want to know more about Russian predatory recruitment abroad and other pressing issues, please consider supporting the Kyiv Independent by becoming a member or making a one-time donation. Your support will help us shed light on Russia's meddling in other countries' affairs and keep the world informed about Ukraine. Join us here and make a difference today.
