Syrian rebels reportedly sent to fight in Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict

In this image taken from a footage released by Armenian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020, Armenian forces destroy Azerbaijani military vehicle at the contact line of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. (Armenian Defense Ministry via AP)

Different sides are accusing one another of recruiting foreigners to the battle

The ongoing bloody battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the border area of Nagorno-Karabakh is quickly being seen as a potential proxy war between Ankara and Moscow, which stand on opposite sides of the long-standing dispute.

Reports and accusations emerged this week that impoverished and desperate Syrian opposition fighters, defeated by the throes of almost 10 years of civil war and supported by Turkey in their final stronghold of Idlib, were recruited by private Turkish defense contractors and summoned to take up arms in Nagorno-Karabakh.

One Syrian fighter, who requested anonymity given his proximity to Turkey, told Fox News on Friday that four men from his hometown of Rastan – a small, ancient city and anti-Assad bulwark in the Homs governate – were slain on the battlefield this week. One was a relative, Kinan Ferzat, a 35-year-old major in the Turkey-backed Free Syria Army (FSA) unit known as the Syrian National Army.

"Kinan defected from the Syrian regime army in 2012 and joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) within the First Corps faction as an Artillery Brigade leader, the military," his family member said. "In 2018, he refused the reconciliation with the regime and was deported to northern Syria, like the other defected military officers. Kinan had two options, either he would go to Idlib and join the Islamic and terrorist organizations, or he would go to Afrin and join the...

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