From China, Chechnya and beyond, foreign jihadists flocked to Syria. Is Idlib their final stand?
A Uygur force of up to several thousand fighters is based in Idlib’s southwest, where they have become one of the Syrian rebels’ ‘most potent factions’ ahead of a much-anticipated government attack
Hailing from far and wide, they flocked to Syria to wage “holy war”. Now foreign jihadists face a fight to the last to hold onto Idlib, their final bastion.
Syrian troops, backed by Russia and Iran, have massed around the northwestern province ahead of an expected onslaught against the largest rebel-held zone left in the country.
Since 2015, Idlib has been home to a complex array of anti-regime forces: secular rebels, Islamists, Syrian jihadists with ties to al-Qaeda – and their foreign counterparts.
The non-Syrians include fighters from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and China’s ethnic Uygur minority who cut their teeth in other wars but then swarmed to Syria to take up the cause.
“These are people who cannot be integrated into Syria really, under any circumstances, who have nowhere to go and who may just be ready to die in any case,” said Sam Heller, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
