Report from Southfront via Organizing Notes
Al-Qaeda-Linked Syrian Drug Dealer Al-Jasim To Funnel Militants From Syria To Ukraine
Syrian pro-opposition activists have revealed disturbing facts about a Ukraine-based Syrian businessman who vowed to fight Russian forces currently conducting a special military operation in the country.
The businessman, Tariq al-Jasim, appeared in a video announcing the formation of an armed group to fight Russian forces on February 26.
According to a reputable Syrian pro-opposition Telegram news channel, al-Jasim’s older brother, Sa’ad, is a security commander in al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that controls the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.
Not only that, al-Jasim, who has been reportedly living in Odessa city for more than year now, is also the cousin of HTS Emir Mohamad al-Abd. Emir is an Arabic term usually used by radicals to describe senior leaders.
The Telegram channel, known as Muzamjer al-Thawra al-Suriyah, also revealed that the so-called businessman is in fact a drug dealer who used to work as a trafficker in Russia.
According to the Abkhazian Network News Agency, al-Jasim is currently preparing to funnel militants from Syria to Ukraine, where they will be thrown against Russian forces. Al-Jasim is working on this with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). Around 200 militants from the Sultan Morad Division and the al-Shamiya Front have already signed up. They are reportedly amassing now in the Turkish-occupied northern Syrian area of Afrin.
The Russian military kicked off a large-scale special operation to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine on February 24 following Kiev failure to implement the 2014 Minsk agreement.
Kiev is apparently planning to use al-Jasim to funnel Syrian militants from SNA factions and even HTS to Ukraine. This can’t happen without help from Turkey who controls and commands these militants. Russia, who maintains a large force in Syria, will not likely tolerate this.
On February 28, the situation inside Ukraine began to take on the shapes of chaos close to what was happening in Libya.
The confusion on all sides, the mass distribution of weapons to the population, and the release of criminals from prisons took place amidst the bitterness of various groups in Ukraine against each other. This has led to a sharp increase in criminal activity in the country. Marauders were united in gangs, and attack any facilities, equipment, and people, regardless of their nationality, whenever they have an opportunity to do so.
The Russian military, in fact, continues to pursue tactics of inflicting minimal damage on civilians, which has come to be perceived as their weakness. Ukrainian propaganda calls for the destruction of all those who might be suspected of having sympathies for Moscow or even a neutral attitude. Russian propaganda labels locals who actively resist as Nazis. Both of these approaches are swinging the flywheel of violence among noncombatants.
There is more info on Southfront as they have a lot of first hand information and update daily (at least)