DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Reports are increasing about the activity of “local actors” in Suwayda speaking on behalf of Russian companies, and working to recruit young men of Suwayda to be sent to Venezuela, according to contracts whose declared aim is to use them to protect the oil installations there.
Thousands of Names
Nermin Mutrad, a pseudonym for a Syrian journalist working in Suwayda, said that she has information about people known to everyone that they have Russian approval to recruit young men from Suwayda.
“About two months ago, more than 700 young men traveled to Libya. I witnessed this with my own eyes. They were riding in buses and they came to the Hmeimim base in Lattakia,” she added.
According to the Syrian journalist, some of them returned with six million Syrian pounds (SYP). She expected their return to be “bait to lure more young people.”
On October, local and media sources of Suwayda spoke about Russia’s new recruitment processes for young Syrians through the “Wagner” company, which is specialized in recruiting mercenaries.
Russian media outlets said that who stood behind these groups and financing their activities is Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is close to the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry.
The number of Suwayda youths registered to go to Venezuela has reached about eight thousand until now, in addition to hundreds of others who were previously sent to Libya, according to Rami Shuhayeb, a civil activist in Suwayda.
Security approvals
Moayad al-Zein, a pseudonym for a young man of Suwayda, said that he is waiting for security approval after he registered his name with a private Russian company and through security intermediaries to travel to Venezuela to protect oil installations and with a very attractive salary.
“I filled out an application that includes the contract period and the salary of $ 3,500, and until this moment I am still waiting for the security agent to tell me that I have obtained the security approval,” he added.
He justifies his acceptance of the offer to the difficult living conditions that the government brought them to and the lack of decent job opportunities inside the country.
al-Zein, who is a university graduate, pointed to his family’s objection to traveling in this way as a mercenary, as it is insulting to the family and its reputation.
Raja al-Hallaj, a pseudonym for a young man from Salkhad city wanted for military reserve service, said that the Russian recruitment company made promises through contracts that those wanted for military service with the government could apply to travel to Venezuela.
“Hundreds of Suwayda youths have been recruited to fight or carry out special missions in Venezuela and before it, Libya, and batches have traveled through Hmeimim base,” he added.
Al-Hallaj is awaiting his turn after obtaining the security approval, as the mediator in Suwayda informed him of that.
“I am convinced that they want to empty the city of Suwayda of youths, but I want to support my family,” he said.
Minority recruitment
Watheq Abu Omar, a Syrian academic living in Suwayda, said that there are efforts to empty the city of Suwayda of the remaining youths, as punishment for it and to remain a hotbed for the new colonists and their henchmen of mercenaries, agents and thugs.
Abu Omar believes that the efforts to empty Suwayda meet with the Russians’ quest to control the diamond and gold mines in Venezuela and not only the sources of oil.
Ala’a al-Jasser, a political activist living in Suwayda, said that the Syrian government, after its inability to recruit the rest of the minorities, resorted in agreement with Russia, to recruit agents to materially entice the youth and recruit them to work as mercenaries for Russia.
Al-Jasser considered that the Syrian government and Russia have succeeded with what they planned, as thousands are flocking to work with them. In the end, these people have become a trump card in the hand of the Syrian government, which was able to neutralize them and introduce hard currency to it.