Russia has lined up more than 40,000 Syrian militiamen to join the war in Ukraine

[yaesu]

pn rthe promise of a “salary and privileges”, according to the respected Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The SOHR, which has been reporting on the war in Syria for years, said no Syrian fighters had reached the front but around 400 were undergoing training in camps in Russia close to the Ukraine border.

“So far, more than 40,000 fighters have signed up for enlistment,” said SOHR, adding that these are not “volunteers” but have signed up on promises to receive “a salary and privileges”.

Per The Guardian

[msongs]

1. time to put the sanctions on syria eh nt

[yaesu]

4. I may be wrong but I think these are volunteers who are seduced by the pay in a very poor, war torn

country but wouldn't doubt with full cooperation of government.

[JI7]

2. Assad paying back Putin

[Poiuyt]

3. Press gang

[Sogo]

5. Big surprise when they get paid in rubles....

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

6. What EXACTLY do they mean by "privileges ?"

Mercenaries are not known to be gentlemen and this deeply disturbs me.

putin cannot count on Russian young men to fight and kill Ukrainians, so he brings in Arabs/Muslims, who have no affiliation or cultural connection to fair-skinned, light haired Ukrainian Catholics.

[yaesu]

7. They will have the privilege of getting their asses blown to hell for a few dollars worth of rubles

[smirkymonkey]

8. Yes, that is very scary.

Those poor Ukrainian women and children.

[Oneironaut]

13. Looting, raping, torturing, murdering innocents - all a sociopathic killer would ever want.

The sooner these demons are converted to worm castings, the better.

[dalton99a]

16. Rape and pillage

the usual Russian military tradition

[doc03]

9. If they can bring troops from Syria we should be able to send MIGs from Poland nt

[BigmanPigman]

10. Not a good sign from Putin's mighty military.

They are asking China for already prepared meals for their troops after only 3 weeks of fighting. James Clapper was on CNN and said this . He also said that he has been rethinking his stance on the weapons, etc at this time in the war. He thinks the US needs to draw a red line and stop allowing Putin to draw the lines for everything every other minute. Also, he thinks America and other countries will be getting involved as the threat of nuclear weapons is now being brought up and it will be sooner rather than later.

[Goodheart]

11. I suspect that Syrians, on the whole, look quite a bit different from Russians

One of the big problems with Russians occupying Kiev, for example, would have been that Russian invaders could have just blended in with the local population by taking off their uniforms. Who would know whom from who? But the Syrians are going to be sitting ducks.

And I agree that this is an embarrassing move by Putin.

[ffr]

12. Get real! Not volunteers. And certainly not paid in Rubles.

Oh, fuck. Sounds like the poor bastard 18 y.o. Russian military reservists they lied to in the lead up to the war.

40,000 will become 400 in two days. Nobody puts their life on the line for some third party without big mercenary money to compensate.

What bullshit!

[PortTack]

15. +1000

[Gore1FL]

19. My understanding is they volunteered because they had no other way to earn money.

They may come cheap, but they will probably have skills close to the conscripts and experience pretty harsh conditions the whole time. It may take more than a couple of days, but yeah... As you say. Those numbers are going to dwindle as they see their fellows dead in the snow.

[UTUSN]

14. There are 40K Syrians *left*?!

[PortTack]

17. And Syria has 40k troops to spare?? Really

[Crunchy Frog]

18. If they're "successful" this will likely greatly exacerbate Islamophobia in Europe and America.

Bad news for everyone all around.