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On April 21, 2024, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which is affiliated with the Syrian opposition, reported that Turkey had deployed 300 Syrian fighters to Niger on a combat mission.
According to the SOHR, 300 Syrian fighters of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) travelled, via transport aircraft, from an unidentified military base in Turkey, to Niger on April 20. The deployment includes fighters of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, the Hamza Division, and the Sultan Murad Division, and is reportedly under the command of an unnamed officer "who defected from [Syrian] regime forces and who previously oversaw fighters during [Turkey-backed] operations in Libya and Azerbaijan."
Sources told the SOHR that the fighters were deployed under a six-month contract, which entitles them to a monthly stipend of $1500; the funds would be delivered to relatives of the fighters in northern Syria.
At departure, the fighters were reportedly prevented from using their mobile phones. The SOHR explained that Turkey and the SNA had adopted a "media blackout policy out of fear of the international and domestic reaction" to the deployment, especially following similar interventions in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Sultan Murad Division reportedly began registering fighters for the combat mission in Niger at the end of 2023, with the SOHR noting that some fighters paid bribes of $200 in order to be accepted on the deployment. In total, the Sultan Murad Division is to deploy 3,500 fighters to Niger, with the first batch of fighters having reportedly left for the country on December 29, 2023. That unit included 300 Syrians, under the command of the division's leader Fahim Issa, the SOHR reported.
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