Syria’s barrel bomb experts in Russia will help with possible Ukraine operation
European officials believe technicians linked to the Syrian army’s infamous barrel bombs, which have wreaked havoc across much of the country, have been deployed in Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar mission in the Ukraine war.
Intelligence officials say more than 50 experts with vast experience in developing and delivering the crude explosive have been in Russia for weeks working with officials in Vladimir Putin’s army.
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Their arrival is understood to be a factor behind US and European warnings that the Russian military may be preparing to use chemical weapons in the conflict, which has entered its fourth month without signs of slowing down.
Barrel bombs – crude explosives packed in drums and dropped from helicopters – were used to devastating effect throughout the Syrian war. The regime has been accused of regularly dumping canisters of chlorine into opposition-controlled towns, killing hundreds of people and causing widespread panic.
With no anti-aircraft weapons, the anti-Assad opposition had little to counter the air dominance of the Syrian military, which was a major factor in the retreat of 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 bring down Russian jets and helicopters, stall progress and expose ground forces to withering artillery fire.
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“This is probably why we haven’t seen them cross the border,” said one European official. “We know the power is there, but they lose it when they use it; We’ll know who did it, and we’ll likely kill them anyway.”
Barrel bomb experts were among the forces the Syrian government sent to Russia to support Putin, whose support was instrumental in securing the Assad regime’s grip on power.
Officials believe 800 to 1,000 Syrian soldiers have so far voluntarily traveled to Russia, where the Kremlin has promised them salaries of between $1,500-$4,000 – up to 20 times what they would receive in Syria, where the economic collapse has plagued Russia .
The Syrian government has established four main recruitment centers for Russian deployment, in Damascus, Latakia, Hama and Homs. They are contracted to the Wagner Group, a Russian private military firm that has pioneered the recruitment of mercenaries to support Russia’s foreign adventures.
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Wagner has played a prominent role in Libya and eastern Syria, supporting Russian interests. But its ties with the Kremlin have at times been frayed. In early 2018, its forces engaged in a brutal battle with US and Kurdish forces in the Syrian province of Deir Azour, killing more than 140 mercenaries mainly by US artillery. European officials said the Russian government gave the green light for the attack.
“It looked like they were too big for their boots,” one officer said. “We know for a fact that the Kremlin cut them loose.”
Since then, however, Wagner has been central to the Russian cause. Its forces were among the first to be deployed in Ukraine and have been accused of committing atrocities in Bucha, where 1,000 people were killed in a few days in early April.
A relative of a Syrian army lieutenant who signed up to fight in Ukraine denies that his uncle is a mercenary. “They are going there as regular army units,” he said. “He’s traveling with an entire platoon. Only four didn’t want to go Putin has done a lot for us, and we can help him now.”
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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 named. “He said it wasn’t them, but maybe it was the Libyans. He insisted that not one of them had crossed the border.”
Wagner is believed to have recruited up to 500 people as covert elements in Ukraine. Many have been flown in from hotspots around northern and central Africa.
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Syria’s barrel bomb experts in Russia will help with possible Ukraine operation
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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