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Turkey halted a plan to send Syrian mercenaries to the Kabul airport after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
According to SOHR, citing what it calls “very reliable” sources, Turkish intelligence informed its proxy Syrian factions to halt preparations to send Syrian mercenaries to the Kabul airport after the Taliban takeover.
Before the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Turkish intelligence had asked the Sultan Murad Division, the al-Hamza Division and other factions operating under the banner of the “Syrian National Army” to get hundreds of fighters prepared to protect the airport, according to SOHR sources.
According to the SOHR report, “Several factions had refused to send their fighters to Afghanistan, [with the justification] that the battles against the Taliban would be fatal.”
Allegations of Turkey’s deployment of Syrian mercenaries in conflict areas outside Syria have surfaced before.
Observers have claimed that Turkey facilitated the deployment of Syrian mercenaries in the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in late 2020.
Allegedly, through Turkish-backed security firms, Syrians from the rebel-held areas have been fighting in the recently settled civil war in Libya, on the side of the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord.