Chechen militias arrive Syria in support of Assad

By Ethar Abduhaq

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Zaman al-Wasl followed with great interest the news and reports of Russia media regarding Moscow sending a group of what is known as the Chechen special forces.

The forces add to the long list of Bashar Assad loyalists who fight with him against the Syrian population to put down the revolution.

Zaman al-Wasl looked at the reports of Russian media and briefed them. In the first place, there was a report by Izvestia which confirmed deployment of Vostok and Zapad battalions.

Kommersant newspaper, known to be close to Kremlin, announced that the forces already started moving to Syria and they all will arrive end of this year basing the news on confirmations by private sources to the newspaper and analysis of a footage. The footage was verified and it documents the goodbye ceremony of members of the battalions.

The two newspapers agreed that the mission assigned to Chechen special forces will be to guard the Russian bases in Syria especially Hemiemem and Tartus meaning they will be like military police more than anything else.

To return to the information we extracted regarding battalions of Vostok and Zapad, it turns out the emergence of Zapad battalions was in the form of a criminal militia which fought against the prominent Chechen leader Jawhar Davodev mid-90s before the militia puts itself under Moscow control to be a toxic dagger stabbing the Chechen and their country during the first Chechen war Moscow launched against Grozny.

Vostok battalions go back to brothers Yamadayev where Sulim Yamadayve is listed as a traitor to the Chechen people. He fought the Russian for years in the ranks of Chechen rebels before he changed stands and turned to Moscow camp.

The formation of Vostok and Zapad battlions was announced officially in 2003 and mercenaries who fought against the Chechen in the Russian invasion have joined the ranks of the two battalions.

When the short term war erupted between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Putin used personnel from Vostok and Zapad as a spearhead in the battles.

What is more interesting is that in 2006 Moscow sent personnel from Vostok and Zapad to guard a Russian battalions deployed to Lebanon to help in building infrastructure as Russia claimed. The infrastructure that was destroyed by the violent war in 2008 between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militia.

During their presence south of Lebanon, on the borders with Palestine, some personnel of Vostok and Zapad would sing some songs and chants from their countries and one of the songs indicate that Chechens will be a key part in the militaries which will recapture Jerusalem. 

Specifically, it is Jerusalem chant which was sang by Timur Mutsurayev in the middle of Grozny battle (1999-2000) and the song motivated the Chechen fighters against Russia.

-Sunnis are the password-

Some of the interested websites in the Russian affairs circulated analysis. Some considered the deploying Chechen special forces to Syria for guarding mission is meaningless. It is likely the forces will be assigned more complex missions than this.

Some also considered that since the majority of the battalions are Sunnis, Russia might have chosen them because they previously had defeated the Wahhabis jihad in Chechen and they may be able to do the same in Syria.

The analysis also indicated to the powerful fighters in the battalions which made Soviet leaders and Russians attempt to attract these fighters and include them in their ranks to benefit from their power.

Russia had sent an Orthodox priest to the goodbye ceremony of Vostok and Zapad to bless the personnel and motivate them since they are going to a holy war.

Jerusalem is ours

Zaman al-Wasl translated the most important paragraphs of Jerusalem chant done by Mutsurayev the Chechen singer and bard.