Syria has recruited half of planned 200,000-strong army, military sources say

Structure of country's new armed forces includes foreign fighters who will be granted citizenship

Syria's transitional authorities are aiming to unite armed groups that fought in the civil war into a single national army. EPA

Syria's transitional authorities have so far recruited half of a planned 200,000-man army, a Syrian military official briefed on the progress told The National.

Uniting myriad factions after the civil war, which broke out in 2011 and ended in December, is crucial for the consolidation of power by President Ahmad Al Shara, and could heal the country's fragmentation.

The leaders of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the group that led the rebel offensive that removed the regime of former president Bashar Al Assad last year, are aiming for a major geopolitical Middle East transformation.

Foreign fighters who were allies of HTS in the civil war have been brought into a new brigade, meeting a major US demand to contain them.

The official told The National that a 3,500-man brigade, comprising mostly foreign Uighur fighters, has been created under a commander known by the pseudonym Abu Muhammad Al Turkistani.

He owes loyalty to a more senior Uighur figure in Syria known as Abu Dajana, who has a direct line to Mr Al Shara, the official explained.

“The Uighurs and most of the foreign fighters will be given Syrian citizenship by the end of the year,” the official said, adding that the army will mostly consist of existing HTS members and factions from the civil war, rather than conscripts without military experience.

The new army also includes 30,000 members of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. It aims to bring in 15,000 members of the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces – which is supported by the US and is in control of large parts of eastern Syria.

Mr Al Shara and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi have been discussing integrating the forces into the new army. On Tuesday, US special envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack told the Turkish NTV channel that the US will be reducing its military presence to the country from eight bases to one, a development not favourable to the SDF.

Last week, Mr Barrack, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, met Mr Al Shara in Damascus and announced that Washington would lift Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Uighurs in Syria mainly came from China during the Syrian civil war. They belong to Al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party, aligned with HTS and its forerunners.

For years, the group led HTS attacks on the Assad regime and other foes until the HTS built its own special forces comprising mostly Syrians, sources said.

The army is expected to be firmly under the control of the Syrian authorities. About two thirds of the senior commanders already appointed are HTS members, while the rest are drawn from the brigades that teamed up with the group, such as the Syrian National Army.

Salaries range from $150 to $500 and are being paid from resources under HTS control, including two telecoms companies that belonged to Mr Al Assad and his associates, the official said.

But the US decision last month to lift sanctions on Syria will help draw Arab funding, he added.

Every division will have 10,000 troops organised into five brigades − two infantry brigades, one armoured brigade, as well as a special forces and a “multi-task” brigade.

“Most brigades, bar the infantry, are still at skeleton stage,” the official said, adding the plans are being mainly drawn by Ali Noureddine Al Naasan, who Mr Al Shara appointed as army chief in January, and Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra.

Both men were close allies of Mr Al Shara during most of his transformation from a fighter in an extremist group to a President.