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Beirut (AFP) – From afar, they flocked to Syria to wage a "holy war". Today, foreign jihadists are fighting until the last moment to seize Idlib, their last stronghold.
Syrian troops, backed by Russia and Iran, have massed around the northwestern province before an expected attack against the largest rebel area in the country.
Since 2015, Idlib has been home to a complex set of anti-regime forces: secular rebels, Islamists, Syrian jihadists with links to Al Qaeda – and their foreign counterparts.
Non-Syrians include fighters from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and the ethnic Uyghur ethnic minority in China, who have stubbed each other in other wars, but then invaded Syria for war. grab.
The assault threat of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad could deprive the few thousand people of their last stronghold in their adopted homeland.
"These are people who really can not integrate into Syria, under any circumstances, who have nowhere to go and who might be ready to die in any case," says Sam Heller, analyst at International Crisis Group.
"They are therefore a real obstacle to any solution," Heller told AFP.
In an effort to avert an assault, the three major power groups in the war in Syria – Russia, Iran and Turkey – agreed Friday to work together to "stabilize" Idlib.
But they revealed few details.
According to observers, the fate of jihadists in the province, including foreign extremists, is a major obstacle to a substantive agreement.
– Uyghurs with street credit –
Driven out of their homelands and targeted in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, experienced foreign jihadists adopted the war in Syria beginning in 2013, two years after the start of the conflict.
Many joined the Islamic State group but others were stranded by al-Qaeda and its former Syrian affiliate – which now heads the powerful Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance that dominates Idlib.
One of the most important is the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), whose members belong to the Uyghur Muslim minority facing stifling repression in the Xinjiang region of China.
They gained combat experience in Afghanistan before traveling to Syria and helping to oust Idlib regime troops in 2015.
"From there, they attacked weapons stocks and have since been among the most powerful factions in the north, so they are not kidding," says Heller.
Their fighters, estimated between 1,000 and several thousand, are based around the city of Jisr al-Shughur in southwestern Idlib, hit in recent days by the escalation of artillery and artillery. rocket fire.
According to Tore Hamming, specialist jihadist movements at the European University Institute, TIP will probably fight in a general assault, probably as a key ally of the battlefield for HTS.
"Not necessarily because of the group's numbers, but because they are known as good fighters and they are really highly respected in the jihadist and rebel environment," he says.
But as the TIP can not work in Xinjiang, a potential loss to Idlib would deprive them of one of their main "alternative battlegrounds," Hamming said.
– Uzbeks, Chechens –
TIPs are not the only Asian people in Idlib who have the most difficulty – Uzbek fighters have joined a handful of groups close to HTS.
They upgraded their skills alongside the Taliban or al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, before traveling to Syria as allies of the al-Qaida branch.
One of the groups is Katiba al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, whom Sirozhiddin Mukhtarov, 28, also known as Abu Saloh al-Uzbeki, heads of Russian and Kyrgyz security services.
Another is the Imam al-Bukhari Brigade, whose online propaganda is often child soldiers and has been designated as a "terrorist" group by the United States this year.
Both are known to have fought at Idlib, but there is little other information available.
Perhaps the most infamous foreign fighters are Chechens, veterans of brutal wars with Russia and linked to HTS.
The two most important Chechen groups in Syria are Junud al-Sham and Ajnad al-Kavkaz, but they have kept the blood in recent months to avoid taking sides in the internal fighting of the Idlib rebels.
A regime attack could put them back in the spotlight.
"Everyone is holding their breath to see what's going on," says Joanna Paraszczuk, who follows foreign jihadists for the IHS Jane's intelligence journal.
Many of them traveled to Syria as early as 2012 to marry Syrian women and to found families there. They are therefore likely to do everything they can to protect their new home.
Paraszczuk said it would mean joining coalitions on the battlefield with larger groups like HTS, and providing snipers and shock troops.
Moscow, in particular, would like all jihadists who oppose it not to return to Chechnya to fight its forces.
"To kill them, from this point of view, would be a psychological bonus for Russia," said Paraszczuk.
