From the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Al-Qaeda linked fighters in Syria’s Idlib have drawn parallels between their cause and that of the Ukrainian armed forces. Recently, allegations have been spread in Arabic media — stemming from reports released in Daesh news outlets — that suggest that not only have Al-Qaeda linked fighters been used against Russia, but also that Daesh (ISIS) fighters are being repurposed for usage against the Russian army.
What has proven intriguing, since the initiation of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February of 2022, has been the plethora of tactics used by Kiev and its Western backers that mimic the strategies used during the war on Syria by the opposition to the Damascus based government. For instance, despite decades of anti-Muslim propaganda and indoctrination in the West that has devalued the lives of the people of West Asia, the Syrian opposition — that were completely taken over by the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist groups — were received as pro-democracy resistance forces that were in essence to be viewed as fighting for the values of the collective West. In the US media, Al-Qaeda linked terrorists groups that were using tactics like suicide bombings against civilian targets, were painted as the victims and heroic rebels that were battling to overthrow dictatorship.
Through ‘Timber-Sycamore’, a secret CIA operation that cost over a billion dollars, it was revealed that between 2012 and 2017 the US government and allied Arab regimes had trained, funded, and armed Syrian militants to defeat the Syrian Arab Army and its allies. Through the course of the bloody Syrian conflict, various claims emerged that provided reasonable cause to believe that the US, UK, EU, and Arab nations had supported not only Al-Qaeda linked terrorist groups, but had directly or indirectly aided Daesh as well. Wikileaks-released audio even revealed that former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, had said: “we were watching, we saw that Daesh was growing in strength, and we thought Assad was threatened… We thought, however, we could probably imagine that Assad might then negotiate, but instead of negotiating he got Putin to support him”. This was an admission that the US had allowed Daesh to grow, in order to pressure the Syrian President, but were surprised when Moscow decided to get involved in order to aid Damascus and defeat the terrorists.
Now that the Syrian war is in stagnation, essentially remaining in a position of stalemate, the collective West’s focus has shifted to its newest proxy conflict, that being the war in Ukraine. Not only did the US have a leading role in steering and coopting to Maidan Coup of 2014 in Kiev, just as it led the Syrian uprising, it also plays a role in the media management of the conflict, as well as providing arms, training, and funding.
In Syria, a group known as the “White Helmets” emerged as the “heroes” of the war. They were even given an Oscar for a popular Netflix documentary made about them. The White Helmets initially received their largest financing from the UK government, through the ‘Mayday Rescue Foundation’, later receiving funding from the US and other Western governments. In the mainstream corporate media, this financing was largely ignored and so too were the White Helmets connections to Al-Qaeda, in addition to the allegations of war crimes that were allegedly carried out in front of, or directly by, the group. In Ukraine, a group called the ‘White Angels’ rescue police units were widely praised in the Western media and when claims emerged of child kidnapping and trafficking, these accusations were dismissed as Russian propaganda; without proper interrogation of the facts presented.
Similarly, bringing up the use of terrorists who were formerly fighting in Syria, also draws the response that any such allegations are to be instantly dismissed as Russian propaganda. However, in March of 2022 it was reported that demonstrations in Syria’s Idlib had marked the anniversary of the beginning of the Syrian war, with a large element appearing in solidarity with Ukraine’s fight against Russia. At the time, a joint statement was issued by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the US, stating: “The coincidence of this year’s anniversary with the appalling Russian aggression against Ukraine … highlights Russia’s brutal and destructive behaviour in both conflicts.” Protesters, who came out to support a demonstration organised by the Al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), that controls Idlib, expressed their solidarity with Ukraine, with one protester sharing his thoughts that,
“what is happening in Ukraine today is similar to the situation here; the enemy is the same and the goal is the same”.
In late October, Al-Monitor revealed that Chechen commanders and regular fighters, who were part of fanatical terrorist groups that HTS were unable to control, headed to Ukraine to fight the Russians. In a separate instance, 450 fighters from HTS, the Turkistan Islamic Party group, Ansar Al-Tawhid and Hurras al-Din, departed for Ukraine, according to sources close with Al-Mayadeen and Sputnik Arabic.
According to reports originating in Sputnik Arabic, 87 Daesh fighters were allegedly transferred to the Syrian-Turkish border under the supervision of HTS on March 28, 2022. An incident which Russian intelligence had been warning could happen, after Moscow released information indicating that Daesh militants were being trained by US forces in an American base in Syria’s al-Tanf. The foreign intelligence service of Russia (SVR RF) proclaimed that:
“At the end of 2021, the US released from prison … several dozen Daesh terrorists, including citizens of Russia and CIS countries. These individuals were sent to the US-controlled Al-Tanf base, where they underwent special training in subversive and terrorist warfare methods with a focus on the Donbass region.”
A number of more recent allegations have surfaced regarding the transfer of Daesh fighters into Ukraine, supposedly on the direct request of Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelenskyy. One centers around a recently released Youtube video, in which a man identifying himself as Hassan Fadel, claims to be revealing documents that prove that Daesh fighters held captive in Iraq are going to be transferred to Ukraine to fight Russia. In the video, the man’s pre-prepared audio message explains that he used to work for the Iraqi government but has since fled and is releasing this information out of concern over the release of Daesh criminals. This video is unverified and there seems to be little supporting evidence provided for the claims.
Yet, at a time when foreign fighters are pouring across the borders to aid in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, it is plausible, especially when there have already seen various reports on the transfer of Daesh fighters to Ukraine. In this specific case, however, there is simply not enough supporting evidence to corroborate its authenticity at this time.
On the other hand, when it comes to the transfer of Al-Qaeda fighters to Ukraine, the policy analysis unit of the Syrian Dialogue Center, an NGO based in Syria’s ar-Raqqa governorate, released a study on Idlib based fighters being transferred to Ukraine, concluding that this has been going on for some time. It concluded that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is the primary terrorist group that controls Idlib, has been aiding in transferring fighters from other Al-Qaeda linked groups that it had under its detention; offering them the choice to join HTS or leave and fight in Ukraine. The report indicated that the majority of the fighters who have travelled to join the battle against Moscow, are foreign non-Syrian nationals, specifically those from European backgrounds.
With there being evidence to suggest that as many as thousands of Takfiri fundamentalist have travelled to Ukraine to fight, there then arises a number of questions as to what this truly means. If it is true that terrorists who claim to have been fighting a Jihadist battle for the sake of creating a religious rule over the territory they sought to control, then why would they agree to go and fight on the side of European Christian nationalists in a Western-backed proxy war that ostensibly seeks to fight for the values of the collective West? Also, if any of these fanatics survive the war, how will they be received by their own governments when they choose to go back home, and will they be considered as heroes for fighting on the side of Ukraine, despite their war crimes in Syria?
