Russia recruiting youth from southern Syria to fight in Libya

Russia has started recruiting dozens of young people in Syria to fight in Libya alongside the forces of retired Brigadier General Khalifa Haftar against the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), local sources said yesterday.

According to the sources, who asked not to be named because they fear for their safety in Syria, Russia has lured young people with wages and the promise to settle the situation of those wanted on security grounds in Syria.

A source from Quneitra confirmed to Arabi21 that Russia is exploiting the poverty under which people are living in Syria to recruit young people to fight in Libya.

The sources said that most of the ex-opposition fighters were from Quneitra in southwestern Syria, and that all of .them had previously been wanted by the regime for taking part in the anti-government uprising

Bashar al-Assad's regime and a delegation representing eastern Libyan strongman Haftar agreed last March to exchange diplomatic missions and confront Turkish "interference", state-run news agency SANA said.

Turkey backs the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, and has dispatched troops and Syrian fighters to the North African country.

In relevant development, a well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl that Libyan pilots from Haftar's forces had arrived in Damascus to follow a training by the Syrian Air Force on the Russian Mi-25 attack helicopters.

The pilots will be stationed in the Air Force 64th Brigade at the Beli Military Airport, 20 km (13 miles) south of Damascus where they have to follow an intensive training for at least six months to be qualified, according to the military source.

Backed by Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE, the parallel Libyan authorities have been on offensive against the UN-recognized since April 2019 to take the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The Beli airbase is also a training field for Iranians pilots. Two squadrons of Iranian warplanes have been stationed since 2012.

Military sources said Iran controls the northeastern part of the airport.

(Zaman Al Wasl, MEMO)