4 days ago
Syria has recruited half of planned 200,000-strong army, military sources say
Syria's transitional authorities have so far recruited half of a planned 200,000-man army, a Syrian military official briefed on the progress told The National.
Uniting the myriad of factions from the civil war that broke out in 2011 is crucial for the consolidation of power by President Ahmad Al Shara, and could heal the country's fragmentation.
The leaders of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the group that led a rebel offensive that removed the former regime in December, are aiming for a major geo-political Middle East transformation.
Speaking to The National, the official said a 3,500 man brigade, comprising mostly Uyghur fighters, has been created under a commander known as Abu Muhammad Al Turkistani - a pseudonym.
He owes loyalty to a more senior Uyghur figure in Syria known as Abu Dajana, who has a direct line to President Ahmad Al Shara, the official explained."
The Uyghurs and most of the foreign fighters will be given Syrian citizenship by the end of the years," the official said, adding that the 200,000 army will mostly comprise of existing HTS members and other factions from the civil war rather than conscripts without military experience.
Earlier on Tuesday Reuters confirmed that foreign fighters who were allies of HTS in the civil war have been brought into a new brigade, meeting a major US demand to contain them.
Last week, US special envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, met Mr Al Shara in Damascus and announced that Washington would lift Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The new army includes 30,000 members of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army and 15,000 members of the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - which is currently in control of large parts of eastern Syria.
A deal between Mr Al Shara and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi have discussed integrating the forces into the new army.
The Uyghurs in Syria mainly came from China during the Syrian civil war. They belong to the Al-Qaeda linked Turkistan Islamic Party, which allied with HTS and its forerunners.
For years, the group spearheaded HTS attacks on the former regime and other foes until the group built its own, special forces with majority Syrians, according to HTS sources.
The army is expected to be firmly under the Syrian authorities. About two-thirds of the senior commanders already appointed are HTS members, while the rest are drawn from the brigades that had allied with the group, such as the Syrian National Army.
Salaries range from $150 to $500 and are currently being paid from resources under HTS control, including two telecom companies that belonged to former President Bashar Al Assad and his associates, the official said.
But, a US decision last month to lift sanctions on Syria will help draw Arab funding, he added.
Every division, 20,000 in size, will have five brigades, comprising of two infantry brigades, one armoured brigade, one special forces and one "multi-task".
"Most brigades, bar the infantry, are still at skeleton stage".
The official said the plans are being mainly drawn by Ali Noureddine Al Naasan, whom Mr Al Shara appointed as army head in January, and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra. Both men are close comrades of Mr Al Shara during most of his transformation from a fighter in an extremist group to a President.
