Syrian barrel bomb experts in Russia to help with potential Ukraine campaign


Technicians linked to the Syrian army’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been sent to Russia to help prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe.

Intelligence officials say that more than 50 specialists, all with vast experience in making and delivering the explosive crude, have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials in Vladimir Putin’s army.

His arrival is understood to be a factor behind warnings from the United States and Europe that the Russian military may have been preparing for the use of chemical weapons in the conflict, which has entered its fourth month with little sign of slowing down.

Barrel bombs – crude explosives packed in a drum and dropped from a helicopter – were used to devastating effect during the Syrian war. The regime was also regularly accused of filling boats with chlorine and dumping them on opposition-held towns and cities, causing hundreds of deaths and causing widespread alarm.

Without anti-aircraft weapons, the anti-Assad opposition had little to counter the air supremacy of the Syrian army, which was a major factor in the regime taking back parts of the country after 10 years of war.

The situation is very different in Ukraine, however, where Ukrainian troops armed with deadly surface-to-air missiles can shoot down Russian planes and helicopters, halting advances and exposing ground forces to withering artillery fire.

“That’s probably why we haven’t seen them cross the border,” a European official said. “We know that the capacity is there, but if they use it, they lose it; we’ll find out who did it, and they’ll probably be killed anyway.”

Barrel bomb specialists were at the forefront of the forces the Syrian government sent to Russia to support Putin, whose backing had been instrumental in securing the Assad regime’s grip on power.

Officials believe that between 800 and 1,000 Syrian soldiers have so far volunteered to travel to Russia, where the Kremlin has promised them salaries of between $1,500 and $4,000, up to 20 times the amounts they would receive in Syria, where an economic collapse has devastated the country. local currency value.

The Syrian government has established four main recruitment centers for the Russian deployment, in Damascus, Latakia, Hama and Homs. The recruits are deployed under contract to the Wagner Group, the Russian private military organization, which has played a leading role in recruiting mercenaries to support Russia’s foreign adventures.

Wagner has been prominent in Libya and eastern Syria supporting Russian interests. However, he has at times had a frayed relationship with the Kremlin. In early 2018, his forces engaged in a brutal battle with US and Kurdish forces in the Syrian province of Deir Azzour, in which more than 140 mercenaries were killed, mainly by US artillery. European officials say the Russian government had given the green light for the attack.

“It appears they had gotten too big for their boots,” an official said. “We know for a fact that the Kremlin released them.”

Since then, however, Wagner has been central to Russia’s actions. His forces were among the first deployed in Ukraine and are accused of committing atrocities in Bucha, where up to 1,000 people were massacred over a few days in early April.

A relative of a Syrian Army lieutenant who signed up to fight in Ukraine denied that his uncle was a mercenary. “They go there as a regular army unit,” he said. “He travels with a full platoon. Only four of them did not want to go. Putin did a lot for us and we can help him now.”

In late April, the Ukrainian government claimed that up to 25 Libyan or Syrian fighters had been killed in the town of Popasna, although both Syrian officials and opposition members denied this.

“I asked my uncle that,” said the relative who declined to be identified. “He said it’s not them, but it could be the Libyans. He insists that none of them have crossed the border.”

Wagner is believed to have deployed as many as 500 men as reconnaissance elements in the Ukraine. Many have arrived by plane from hotspots in North and Central Africa.



Reference-www.theguardian.com

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