US shifts policy, approves Syrian plan to incorporate ex-HTS jihadists into military

The United States has signalled its conditional support for a controversial plan by Syria’s new leadership to incorporate thousands of foreign former rebel fighters into the national army, as long as the process is conducted transparently, according to President Donald Trump's special envoy to Syria.

Speaking in Damascus, Thomas Barrack — who also serves as the US ambassador to Türkiye and was recently appointed Trump’s special envoy to Syria — told Reuters: “I would say there is an understanding, with transparency.” Barrack emphasised that keeping the fighters within the structure of the state would be more beneficial than leaving them alienated, noting that many are now “very loyal” to Syria’s new administration.

Under the plan, about 3,500 foreign fighters, mostly ethnic Uyghurs from China and neighbouring Central Asian countries, will be integrated into a newly formed unit known as the 84th Division of the Syrian Army. This division will also include Syrian nationals, according to three senior Syrian defence officials.

The proposed move marks a major policy shift, as the fate of foreign jihadists — especially those affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate that seized control from President Bashar al-Assad last year — has long been a sticking point in Western efforts to normalise relations with Syria. Until recently, Washington had insisted on the exclusion of foreign fighters from Syria’s emerging security apparatus.

However, US policy appears to have changed significantly following Trump’s Middle East tour last month. During the trip, Trump met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, agreed to lift the remaining sanctions imposed under Assad, and appointed Barrack, a longtime associate, as his envoy.

According to two sources familiar with discussions inside Syria’s defence ministry, Sharaa and his advisers have been lobbying Western officials, arguing that integrating foreign fighters into the national military would be more secure than leaving them adrift, where they could fall back into the orbit of the Islamic State or other jihadist networks.

Foreign fighters, many of them Sunni Muslims, began arriving in Syria early in the civil war to fight the Iranian-backed Assad regime. Some established their own factions, while others joined groups like the Islamic State, which at its peak declared a “caliphate” over parts of Syria and Iraq before being defeated by a range of US- and Iran-backed forces.

Foreign jihadists within HTS were known for their discipline and combat effectiveness, playing a key role in the group’s elite units, including its suicide squads. From 2016, they fought both the Islamic State and other al-Qaeda factions, following HTS’s formal split from al-Qaeda’s central leadership.

A large number of the foreign fighters now slated for integration are members of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a jihadist group composed largely of Uyghurs and designated as a terrorist organisation by China. A Syrian official and a foreign diplomat said China has expressed concern and sought curbs on TIP’s influence in Syria.

Asked about the group’s new role, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said: “China hopes that Syria will oppose all forms of terrorism and extremist forces in response to the concerns of the international community.”

In a written statement to Reuters, Osman Bughra, a political official with TIP, confirmed that the group has been formally dissolved and merged into Syria’s military structure. “At present, the group operates entirely under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, adheres to national policy, and maintains no affiliations with external entities or groups,” Bughra said.

The inclusion of foreign fighters in Syria’s military is not without controversy. Their elevation to key military roles late last year—some of them formerly senior HTS leaders — sparked alarm among Western governments and led to calls for a freeze on such appointments. Washington and other Western capitals had demanded their removal up until the week of Trump’s meeting with Sharaa.

Sharaa has since stated that foreign fighters and their families may be granted Syrian citizenship in recognition of their role in the battle against Assad’s regime.

Abbas Sharifa, a Damascus-based analyst of jihadist movements, said the foreign fighters now being incorporated had been “ideologically filtered” and had demonstrated loyalty to Syria’s new leadership. “If you abandon them,” he warned, “they become prey to ISIS or other radical groups.”

By Tamilla Hasanova