According to two of their leaders, some Syrian paramilitary forces are ready to move to Ukraine to fight in support of their partner Russia but have not yet received orders to do so.

Nabil Abdallah, a commander in the paramilitary National Defence Forces (NDF), told Reuters by phone from the Syrian town of Suqaylabiyah that he was ready to utilise his skills in urban fighting gained during the Syrian conflict to help Russia.

“Once we get instructions from the Syrian and Russian leadership, we will fight this righteous war,” Abdallah stated on March 14, four days after President Vladimir Putin authorised the deployment of 16,000 Middle Eastern volunteers to Ukraine.

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“We don’t fear this war and are ready for it once instructions come to go and join. We will show them what they never saw… We will wage street wars and (apply) tactics we acquired during our battles that defeated the terrorists in Syria,” he said.

The Kremlin addressed Reuters’ questions to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry did not reply to a request for information on whether Russia intended to issue deployment orders for NDF fighters or whether any NDF fighters had been recruited thus far.

Reuters got no answer to inquiries made to the Syrian information ministry and the army through the information ministry on whether Syria planned to issue orders for NDF fighters to deploy or whether any NDF fighters had been recruited so far.

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Syria is Russia’s closest Middle Eastern partner, and Moscow‘s engagement in the Syrian war in 2015 was critical in assisting President Bashar al-Assad in defeating opposition troops in enclaves across most of the nation.

With Russian air backing, the NDF formed from pro-Assad militias early in the Syrian war and engaged in offensives that took several of the rebel-held strongholds.

Experts on Syria estimate that the NDF, which has been mostly demobilised, counts in the tens of thousands, providing Russia with a potentially enormous pool of recruits if the Ukraine war continues.

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Simon Wakeel, a second NDF commander from the adjacent town of Mharda, told Reuters that “a lot of our people want to enlist to join our Russian brothers (and) allies, but we have not received any instructions from the leadership.”

“We are auxiliary forces that fought alongside the army and with our Russian allies. We crushed the terrorists who waged the war in Syria, ” said Wakeel, who has been honoured by Russia and whose Facebook profile has photographs of church gatherings, soldiers in military fatigues, and Assad.

On March 11, Putin addressed a meeting of Russia’s Security Council that if individuals from the Middle East wanted to travel to Ukraine for reasons other than money, Russia should assist them in “getting to the battle zone.”

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Putin’s comments came after Ukraine claimed on March 3 that over 16,000 foreigners had volunteered to fight alongside it against Russia. Ukraine has developed an “international legion” for foreign citizens.

In Washington, US Marine General Frank McKenzie, commander of Central Command, which oversees US operations in the Middle East, told a Senate hearing on March 15 that the number of Syrians attempting to flee to Ukraine looked to be a “trickle.”

“We believe that out of Syria there are perhaps small, small — very small — groups of people trying to make their way to Ukraine,” he stated. “Right now it’s a very small, trickle.”

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According to two senior regional officials with deep links to the Syrian government and three individuals close to the Syrian army, Russia has been looking for Syrians with combat experience for Ukraine.

The operation is being handled from a Russian airbase in Syria’s Latakia region, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The Russian defence ministry did not answer Reuters’ queries about whether the sources’ allegations were correct, who was leading the recruiting, or how the process was developing. The Syrian information ministry did not reply to a Reuters request for an assessment of the Russian recruiting campaign by the administration.

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According to Ukrainian military intelligence, 150 mercenaries were sent from Russia’s Hmeimein airbase in Syria to Russia on March 15 to take part in military operations against Ukraine, according to the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense in response to Reuters questions.

More than 30 fighters had returned to Hmeimein from Russia “after being injured in the battle with Ukrainian forces,” according to the statement.

Ukrainian military intelligence stated the recruits were assured they would only be employed to keep order in seized territory, but information about taking part in direct combat attacks against the Ukrainian army has lately begun to spread among mercenaries.

The Russian defence ministry and Syria’s information ministry also declined to comment on the Ukrainian intelligence account.

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In a video released on March 11, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukraine has “information that Russian forces are bringing in mercenaries from different countries,” and warned that “anyone who tries to join forces with the occupier in our Ukrainian lands – this will be the worst decision of your life.”

According to senior regional authorities, the wage offered to an ordinary recruit is about $1,000 per month, which is around 30 times the pay of a Syrian soldier. Experienced combatants might earn $2,000 in winnings.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation that reports on Syria using sources from both sides of the conflict, a monthly wage of 1,000 euros is on offer, as well as compensation of 7,000 euros for the wounded and 15,000 euros for the families of fighters killed. The intelligence came from Syrian military sources, according to the report.

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It said that no contracts had been issued.

When questioned by Reuters about rumours of money being given or paid to go to Ukraine, NDF leader Wakeel rejected this, saying, “we are volunteers in a righteous cause.”

The Observatory and regional authorities’ compensation details could not be independently verified by Reuters.

At a meeting of the Russian Security Council on March 11, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that volunteers from the Middle East were ready to fight with Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine’s separatist Donbass area.

“Many of them we know – they helped in the struggle with (ISIS) in the most difficult time, in the past 10 years,” Shoigu added, referring to the Syrian crisis.