Syrian authorities have arrested 16 Uzbek fighters after a stand-off with armed members of the community in Idlib, sources in the area said on Wednesday.
Dozens of Uzbek fighters surrounded a Criminal Security headquarters in Idlib, north-west Syria, after security personnel stormed the countryside home of an Uzbek fighter suspected of highway robberies, a provincial official said.
The siege was lifted after the intervention of Uzbek elders who “pledged loyalty to the Syrian state”, the official said. Clashes also occurred in the area of Foua-Kafraya, 8km north-east of Idlib, where the fighter lived among a concentration of Uzbeks.
The episode, which unfolded this week, highlighted the issue of thousands of foreign fighters still in Syria after the 2011-2024 civil war, who are seen as more hardline than the current Islamist-led government.
The US has made curbing their influence a condition of its support to post-Bashar Al Assad Syria. US outreach began in May 2025 and had turned into an alliance by the year’s end.
The Syrian authorities have brought 3,500 foreign fighters into the post-Assad security apparatus and promised them Syrian nationality. However, only a few appear to have been awarded citizenship so far.
The Uzbek fighters are among thousands of foreign militants who played a leading role in the toppling of the former regime as members of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the former Al Qaeda affiliate led by current President Ahmad Al Shara.
No casualties were reported in this week’s stand-off. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities.
HTS was officially disbanded in January last year but its former members dominate the state. There are no accurate numbers of foreign fighters in the country, with estimates ranging from several thousands to significantly bigger numbers.
It is thought at least 1,500 Uzbeks came to Syria from Central Asia to fight alongside Sunni militants against the Alawite- dominated Assad family regime and its pro-Iranian Shiite militia allies. Some came with their families while others married Syrians. Their children go to Syrian schools.
Some are now deployed by the state in mountainous coastal areas under a government policy to keep foreign fighters away from towns and cities. “The government does not want them to have much interaction with Syrians,” a source in neighbouring Jordan who tracks militias in Syria said. An HTS source in Idlib said many of the Uzbek fighters receive military salaries while remaining at their homes in Idlib.
In October, security forces surrounded a camp in Idlib controlled by a French extremist known as Omar Omsen, after he was suspected of involvement in criminal activity. However, a deal was reached under which Omsen has remained in control of the camp, which is near an ancient castle on the border with Turkey, while pledging not to expand his influence.
Other foreign fighters hold senior positions in the post-Assad government. An Australian of Lebanese descent, known as Abu Mariam, has the remit of taking over assets from former regime members. On the military side, a Jordanian known as Abu Hussein Al Urdini commands the elite Republican Guard, although he is wanted in Jordan.
The Republican Guard protects the President and the Palace of the People, where Mr Al Shara receives guests. “It will be a tricky situation if King Abdullah ever visits Damascus,” one diplomat said.
A former western diplomat, who discussed the issue with Mr Al Shara during several meetings in the first half of last year, told The National the President had told him bringing foreigners into the security forces would contain them and lessen the chances of their involvement in terrorist acts outside Syria. Most western capitals “were not convinced by this logic”, the former diplomat said.