Arab and Western media reported Wednesday (June 28th) that the Russian military and Syrian government forces arrested commanders of the Wagner Society in Syria in the wake of the rebellion led by its leader Yevgeny Prigojine in Russia on June 24 June.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
The pan-Arab television channel Sky News, based in the United Arab Emirates, reported on Wednesday that the ” Syrian and Russian armies arrested several members of Wagner present in Syria before transporting them to the Russian base of Hmeimim, in Latakia.
The pan-Arab daily Al-Araby al-Jadid specifies that a colonel and two lieutenant-colonels are among the officers of the paramilitary group arrested in ” preventive title “. The Qatari-owned newspaper adds that these arrests carried out in collaboration with the Syrian intelligence services enabled the Russian military police to take control of the Wagner company in Syria.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the number of Wagner fighters in Syria at 5,000, including 2,000 nationals from Russia or former republics of the Soviet Union. The latter would have been faced with two choices: to join the Russian army or to leave Syria.
The other 3,000 Syrian Wagner fighters have been demobilized, according to the Syrian Observatory, which reports the arrest of several local recruiters in different provinces of the country.
Arab media and Syrian sources consulted by RFI ensure that Wagner’s contingents deployed in several regions of Syria have not attempted any rebellion against the regular Russian troops present in this country.
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The Russian paramilitary group made headlines amid the Syrian war when US planes bombed columns of fighters in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor in February 2018. Reuters reported at the time that 300 members of the group , including Russian nationals, had been killed during these raids.