US officials say Russia recruiting Syrians to fight in Ukraine: WSJ

AFP via RUDAW ^ | 3/7/2022 | AFP

[RomanSoldier19]

WASHINGTON, United States - Russia is recruiting Syrian fighters experienced in urban combat as it ramps up its assault on Ukraine, according to US officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Moscow, which launched an invasion into its Eastern European neighbor on February 24, has in recent days recruited fighters from Syria hoping they can help take Kyiv, four US officials told the US daily.

Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015 on the side of President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The country has been mired in a conflict marked by urban combat for more than a decade.

One official told the Journal that some fighters are already in Russia readying to join the fight in Ukraine, though it was not immediately clear how many combatants have been recruited, and the sources would not provide further detail.

[RomanSoldier19]

[lee martell]

Yeah. Those Chechneyan “Mad Men” haven’t been scoring as many wins as Putin had expected. Time to interview other “Barbarians”.

[Varsity Flight]

1. Gog Magog✔

2. Frogs.✔

3. Armageddon.✔

📌

[nickcarraway]

Wisp of desperation.

Syrians can't even conquer their own country.

[Steely Tom]

Yes, the Russian army will surely benefit from integrating with large numbers of Syrian soldiers, who are well-known for their fighting skills and loyalty. And who are quick studies in Russian. And who, as Muslims, are eager to join secular Russians to go on high-priority missions in Ukraine. This makes total sense to me.

[steelwheels]

four US officials told the US daily.

[irishjuggler]

One of the first casualties of this war has been the fiction that Putin is a kind of champion of Orthodox Christianity. Importing Muslims to kill Ukrainian Christians doesn’t quite jibe with the narrative of a Putin as a defender of Christendom, does it?

[ScottinVA]

What, those “awesome” Russians aren’t having as easy a time as they’d hoped?

[House Atreides]

“ Wisp of desperation.…”
****************************

Wisp of BULLCRAP. Yes, the monstrous Russians are employing as many Chechen, Syrian and Muslims from other countries as they can to kill their fellow Slavs. Sure, we’re gullible enough to believe that. /sarc

[ScottinVA]

Exactly. Putin is no defender of any cause aside from aggrandizing himself and reassembling the USSR. Contrary to the sentiments often seen here in FR, he’s no “white hat.”

[Ceebass]

Not surprising. The Ukrainians report 11,000 dead russians so far. The number is probably accurate since they ask the IRC to take them back to russia.

At the height of the Vietnam war we were losing over 500 dead a week. The russians are losing about 7,000 a week, more than 10x that number. They need to scrape up cannon fodder any place they can get it.

russians are still stalled around Kiev. They can’t bring in their 40 mile convoy with their 2nd echelon to head south and link up with the crimea force. Convoy is stuck on the msr taking fire as Ukranians attack targets of opportunity with their plentiful missile arsena.

Sucks to be a russian target these days.

[lee martell]

“Those Ukrainians not just your typical “Moose & Squirrel” kind of operation.

[moehoward]

“according to US officials “
“four US officials told the US daily”
“One official told the Journal that “

Boy, that is really “official”.

[RomanSoldier19]

[Zhang Fei]

[Wisp of desperation.

Syrians can’t even conquer their own country. ]

---

I think it’s warm bodies he’s after. Assuming they’re no worse than Russian troops, the fact is if Syrians die or sustain serious injuries, there’s no political impact in Russia.

Assuming official Russian casualties are true - 500 in 1 week - 500 is 1/2 the average Russian KIA in Afghanistan for an entire year. I suspect Putin is going to run into serious problems taking casualty numbers at ~25x its reported Afghan War rate per week with half the Russian population that it had during the Afghan campaign. All those single son families are gonna be screaming bloody murder.

When you compare Afghanistan to Vietnam, it’s remarkable how much less punishment in body count terms the Russians were able to take before hitting their uncle point. The official Russian KIA number in Afghanistan was 13,000 over about 10 years, which is roughly 1/5 the US number in Vietnam. When you think about the coercive powers of the totalitarian Soviet state vs the anything goes milieu of 60’s and 70’s America - it’s amazing the US hung in there so long.

[ShivaFan]

In two days, Putin is about to send Syrian military into Ukraine to kill the citizens of Ukraine. The soldiers of Syria's Bashar al-Assad who used poison gas on his own people are already in Russia right now, they will go in as both troops on the ground specialized in urban combat as well as already experienced in using poison gas and can pilot Russian Su-34s etc.

So now Russia is bringing in yet another country into the Russian war on Ukraine, not just Belarus but now also Syria.

So the entry of Syria into this war, doesn't that mean we now have a war that includes the Middle East? Sort of like a world war, yes? It's not just the area around the "Eastside" of Eastern Europe, it's now Syria has entered the war officially. So Syria is also now fighting a war in EUROPE.

So... shouldn't Syria face severe and immediate consequences? What does sleepy Joe think? Can we let Ukraine fly jets into Syria? I mean, maybe we should. Syria just went to war against Ukraine. In fact, maybe Ukraine should be given military bombers and fighter planes and hit Russian bases in Syria. Syria is at war with Ukraine. So let's do it.

We are told we can't risk world war with this no fly zone fly zone "controversy" ... but now that the Middle East has entered the war in EUROPE with Syria attacking a EUROPEAN NATION, maybe this is already a world war, no fly zone, fly zone or not.

What is the fly zone over Syria? And, if Biden thinks we shouldn't do anything to hit Russia, why shouldn't Russia also bring troops from Cuba to Russia to go into Ukraine? I mean, Syria is. What about Venezuela?

[ShivaFan]

If people think it’s ok for Syria to send in ground troops specialized in urban warfare and Syrian pilots specialized in poison gas to WAR against a EUROPEAN NATION... then why not Putin also bring in Iranian troops to attack Ukraine? What’s the difference between Putin bringing in SYRIAN TROOPS to war on Ukraine and Putin bringing in IRANIAN TROOPS to war on the European nation?

[patriotfury]

Hey big guy, there almost [ain’t no] one on FR more historically and comprehensively aware of who Putin is, what RUSFED and CIS were designed to accomplish, or of the macro picture, than some of my abc homies.

But the average Russian is either bery much in the dark, or not on board with Putin going to war Ukraine.

In fact, I am personally aware of Russians losing everything at this moment, as they are being targeted by police, receiving “tippers”, and taking orders from FSB internally.

I am told some have been beaten, and or shot to death, protesting and talking against Putin.

This has happened a few times before with Putin, but the scale here is much larger.

Russia is also using social media to go after everyone, while try to control all flow of information (also Putin SOP since 1995-1996 from inside Yeltsin’s office)

So, your tagline needs a tiny bit of alteration 🕶 ⛑

[Long Jon No Silver]

Assad is an @hole. But lesser of an @hole than Isis. Like it or not, the Russkies helped put down some of the most loathsome slugs to ever breath oxygen on this planet. Besides that, this article is a fairy tale

[wardaddy]

Freepers don’t care about facts...not when on a roll

Trust me