EXPLAINER: Will Russia bring Syrian fighters to Ukraine?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved bringing in volunteer fighters from the Middle East, particularly Syria, to fight in Ukraine

BEIRUT -- With Russia's war on Ukraine now in its third week, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday approved bringing in volunteer fighters from the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Syria clearly has a rich pool of fighters to draw from. Russia's military is deeply entrenched in the Mideast country, where its intervention — starting in 2015 — helped Syrian President Bashar Assad gain the upper hand in the ongoing, 11-year civil war.

But less clear is how significant, large or effective a Syrian deployment would be.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke of “more than 16,000 applications” already from the Middle East, though he didn't specify which country. Syrian opposition activists say Russia recently began recruitment efforts in Syria for the Ukraine war, but put the scale of those efforts so far at far lower numbers.