The Emergence of the 'Chechen' and 'Turkistani' Villages in Syria

"We found our way with the car's low beam. The air was very dark, and we could hardly recognize the road. The area we were passing through in the outskirts of Jisr al-Shughur (in Idlib province in northwestern Syria) has been abandoned for over a year. We always passed through this area to reach our village in Jabal al-Akrad. I was sure of this until suddenly armed individuals stopped our car and forced us to get out. It seemed I had stepped into another land... They spoke Arabic poorly, and their faces were very strange"... This is part of a conversation that 'Abu Ubaid', one of the residents of the outskirts of Latakia, had with the regional newspaper 'Al-Hayat'. In this conversation, he talks about his experience returning to his village after years of absence due to the war. 'Abu Ubaid' mentions that he and his companions were held for a while in a walled area until someone familiar with Arabic explained to them that they had entered one of the villages where "migrants from Turkistan and their families" had settled and that they should not enter this area again. The region and its social characteristics: The northwestern regions of Syria, starting from Jisr al-Shughur and extending to the two mountains of al-Akrad and al-Turkman, are considered one of the most diverse areas in terms of ethnicity and religion. This region, administratively divided between the provinces of Idlib and Latakia, includes hundreds of Sunni, Alawite, Christian, Druze villages, and a few Shiite villages. This area also witnesses another diversity as its original inhabitants are a mixture of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Armenians. After the protests began in Syria in 2011 and the increasing sectarian factors in political and social equations, the demographic composition of the region also changed. These changes accelerated in mid-2012 with the arrival of foreign militants. Residents of dozens of towns and villages were evacuated either due to attacks and bombings by government forces that destroyed areas outside their control or due to sectarian tensions that mainly forced the residents of Christian and Alawite villages to flee. Ultimately, the northwestern regions of Syria witnessed very complex demographic changes that dismantled the existing social infrastructure and paved the way for the establishment of 'migrant communities'. The first migrants who entered the region: Yamen Salem, one of the fighters of the 'Free Syrian Army', speaks about the first Chechens who entered the outskirts of Latakia. There were two of them, introducing themselves as 'Abdullah and Ahmad'. Yamen Salem tells 'Asharq Al-Awsat': "For us, they were two individuals who left their lives to help us, especially since we needed fighters and experience very much." Yamen Salem, whose two Chechen fighters accompanied him and his group for only a few weeks, continues: "At dawn on the second day of Ahmad and Abdullah's arrival, Ahmad, who knew Arabic, woke me up to pray the morning prayer with them. I was surprised; we were not used to waking up for the morning prayer. I responded with a frown that we did not want to pray with him, but he said: How do you expect to win while you do not pray?" These were the early roots of the differences that ultimately led most foreign militants to act independently. Mainly, especially in the early days of armed battles in Syria, most fighters of the Free Syrian Army were not religious extremists, unlike those coming from abroad, who were filled with jihadist ideology. A few weeks later, in late 2012, dozens of Libyan militants formed the 'Migrant Brigade' in the town of 'Salma' in the outskirts of Latakia. This group became the core of attracting foreign militants who mainly entered Syria from the Turkish borders. Several years after the displacement of Syrians inside and outside Syria, a military map formed in northwestern Syria that is different from other regions of the country. In this area, many foreign groups are present independently of Syrian fighters. This military map also has its social reflections. The number of families of foreign militants has reached thousands. They have formed their communities in these areas. According to local media reports and eyewitness accounts, most of these families have settled in dozens of villages in the outskirts of Latakia, whose residents have left. The 'migrants' prefer to live in Alawite and Christian villages because they believe that the residents of these villages do not intend to return soon. By searching local and regional news sources, the main foreign groups present in the northwestern regions of Syria can be listed as follows: 1- 'Islamic Turkistani Party for the Support of the People of the Levant': All its militants are from Turkistan. An interesting issue is their collective and large-scale entry into the region. The presence of about 500 Turkistani families in this area is estimated. They are currently residing in the Christian village of al-Ghassaniyah in the outskirts of Latakia. 2- 'Jund al-Sham': Composed of Chechen and Caucasian militants, and it is unclear how many of them have brought their families to the region. 3- 'Sham Islam Movement': Most of its militants are from the Maghreb. Some of them married Syrian girls, but most brought their families with them. 4- 'Saqour al-Izz': Most of the militants of this group are Saudi. Many of them have married Syrian women. This group recently joined the 'Jabhat al-Nusra', which has led to more interaction with the local community. However, the 'Migrant Brigade' that was initially formed did not last. Many of its militants were killed, and the rest mainly returned to Libya. Nevertheless, it seems that how these foreign 'migrants' continue to exist in Syria, how they interact with local communities, and their future in potential political solutions to the crisis are questions and ambiguities awaiting answers.