Reuters: U.S. Gives Nod to Syria to Bring Foreign Jihadist Ex-Rebels Into Army

Reuters

U.S. envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack.

The United States has approved a plan by Syria's new leadership to incorporate thousands of foreign jihadist former rebel fighters into the national army, provided that it does so transparently, Reuters reported on Tuesday, 3 June 2025.

Reuters stated that three Syrian defence officials said that under the plan, some 3,500 foreign fighters, mainly Uyghurs from China and neighbouring countries, would join a newly-formed unit, the 84th Syrian army division, which would also include Syrians.

Asked by Reuters in Damascus whether Washington approved the integration of foreign fighters into Syria's new military, Thomas Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye who was named Trump's special envoy to Syria last month, said: "I would say there is an understanding, with transparency."

According to Reuters, he said it was better to keep the fighters, many of whom are "very loyal" to Syria's new administration, within a state project than to exclude them.

Since HTS, a former branch of al Qaeda, overthrew Assad and took power last year, one of the most sensitive issues impeding a reconciliation with the West has been the fate of foreigners who joined Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels during the 13-year conflict between rebel groups and President Bashar al-Assad. At least until early May, the United States had been demanding the new leadership broadly exclude foreign fighters from the security forces.

However, since U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East travel last month, Washington's stance on Syria has drastically changed. He met with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, pledged to relax sanctions imposed on the country by Assad, and appointed his close friend Barrack as his special envoy.

Two sources close to the Syrian defence ministry told Reuters that Sharaa and his circle had been arguing to Western interlocutors that bringing foreign fighters into the army would be less of a security risk than abandoning them, which could drive them into the orbit of al Qaeda or Islamic State.

The Uyghur fighters from China and Central Asia are members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a group designated as terrorists by Beijing. Reuters reported that s Syrian official and a foreign diplomat said China had sought to have the group's influence in Syria restricted.

This article was originally published by Reuters.



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