After 2011, tens of thousands of foreign extremists flooded into Syria with the backing of western intelligence agencies to help topple the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
Originally published in The Cradle.
The US has agreed to a plan by Syria's transitional government to incorporate thousands of foreign extremist fighters into the national army, Reuters reported on 2 June.
US President Donald Trump's envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, told the news agency, “I would say there is an understanding, with transparency,” to incorporate the fighters into units under the control of the Ministry of Defense.
As part of the CIA-led covert war to topple the former Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, tens of thousands of foreign Salafist extremists traveled to Syria to fight what they claimed was a jihad against the Syrian army. Radical fighters traveled to Syria, primarily via Turkiye, from across the world, including China, and Europe, to join Al-Qaeda groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and ISIS.
HTS toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government in December last year and became the core of Syria's new security forces and army.
Three Syrian defense officials said that under the plan, some 3,500 foreign fighters, including Uyghurs from China and neighboring countries, would join the newly formed 84th Syrian Army Division.
US envoy Barrack said it was better to keep the fighters, many of whom are “very loyal” to Syria's new administration, within a state project than to exclude them.
The US green light reverses previous US statements asking Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, himself an extremist and former ISIS leader previously known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, to exclude foreign extremist fighters from the security forces.
Reuters wrote that “Washington's approach to Syria has changed sharply since Trump toured the Middle East last month. Trump agreed to lift Assad-era sanctions on Syria, met Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh, and named Barrack, a close friend, as his special envoy.”
The US State Department and a Syrian government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
The Uyghur fighters from China and Central Asia are members of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a group designated as terrorists by Beijing. TIP fighters expelled Christians and other minorities and seized their homes after helping conquer Idlib Governorate in 2015.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “China hopes that Syria will oppose all forms of terrorism and extremist forces in response to the concerns of the international community.”
TIP political official Osman Bughra told Reuters the group had officially dissolved and integrated into the Syrian army.
“At present, the group operates entirely under the authority of the Ministry of Defense, adheres to national policy, and maintains no affiliations with external entities or groups,” he said.
In December, Sharaa appointed several prominent foreign extremists from the ranks of HTS to top positions in the Defense Ministry. Many foreign extremists were also given Syrian citizenship.
Foreign fighters with radical sectarian views led the slaughter of at least 1,600 Alawite civilians over the course of several days in Syria's coastal regions in March. Alawites continue to be murdered and kidnapped, including women taken as sex slaves, by foreign and Syrian fighters affiliated with Sharaa's government.
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