DAMASCUS: Syria’s new rulers have installed some foreign fighters including Uyghurs, a Jordanian and a Turk in the country’s armed forces as Damascus tries to shape a patchwork of rebel groups into a professional military, two Syrian sources said.
The move to give official roles, including senior ones, to several militants may alarm some foreign governments and Syrian citizens fearful about the new administration’s intentions, despite its pledges not to export Islamic revolution and to rule with tolerance toward Syria’s large minority groups.
A Syrian government spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the thinking behind the appointments.
The sources said that out of a total of almost 50 military roles announced by the Defense Ministry on Sunday, at least six had gone to foreigners.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the nationalities of the individuals appointed.

Thousands of Sunni Muslim foreigners joined Syria’s rebels early in the 13-year civil war to fight against the rule of Bashar Assad and the Iran-backed Shiite militias who supported him, giving the conflict a sectarian overtone.
Some foreign fighters formed their own armed groups while others joined established formations such as Daesh as it rampaged across Iraq and Syria, briefly declaring a so-called caliphate before being routed by US and Iran-backed forces.
Other groups of foreign militants joined HTS, which disavowed previous links to Al-Qaeda and Daesh and fought bloody battles against them before going on to spearhead the lightning advance that toppled Assad on Dec. 8.
Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the HTS-leader-turned de facto ruler of Syria, has purged dozens of foreign jihadi fighters as part of a campaign to Syrianize and moderate his group.
In remarks broadcast on Sunday, Sharaa said the new Syria “cannot be run by the mentality of groups and militias.”
Syria’s new rulers, drawn mainly from HTS, have indicated that foreign fighters and their families may be given Syrian citizenship and be allowed to stay in the country because of their contributions to the fight against Assad.
The Defense Ministry on Sunday announced 49 appointments to the army that included leaders of key Syrian armed factions.
Among them were several foreign fighters, three given the rank of brigadier-general and at least three others the rank of colonel, a Syrian military source said.

’TOKEN OF RECOGNITION’
“This is a small token of recognition for the sacrifices Islamist militants gave to our struggle for freedom from Assad’s oppression,” an HTS source told Reuters.
Chinese Uyghur militant Abdulaziz Dawood Khudaberdi, also known as Zahid and the commander of the separatist Turkistan Islamic Party’s (TIP) forces in Syria, was appointed a brigadier-general, a TIP statement said and the Syrian military source confirmed.
Two other Uyghur fighters, Mawlan Tarsoun Abdussamad and Abdulsalam Yasin Ahmad, were given the rank of colonel, said the TIP statement published on its website, congratulating them and the Uyghur community on the appointments.
All the names appear in Sunday’s Defense Ministry announcement, though the nationalities are not included.
The TIP is thought to have hundreds of fighters in Syria and aims to establish a Daesh in parts of China and central Asia, where there is a large Uyghur Muslim population.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labor in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.
There was no immediate comment from the Chinese foreign ministry.
China labels the TIP a terrorist organization responsible for plots to attack overseas Chinese targets. Beijing has said TIP “gravely threatens” China’s interests and security overseas and that combating the group was China’s “core concern” in its counter-terrorism effort.
Turkish citizen Omar Mohammed Jaftashi and Jordanian citizen Abdul Rahman Hussein Al-Khatib were also made brigadier-generals, the Syrian military source and the HTS source said.
Abdul Jashari, an ethnically Albanian fighter also known as Abu Qatada Al-Albani, was appointed colonel, the military source said.
Jashari head the Albanian militant group Xhemati Alban and was designated a militant by the US Treasury in 2016.
Egyptian Alaa Mohammed Abdel-Baqi was also given a military rank, the source said.
Egypt’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LONDON: Adverse weather on Monday looked set to hit UK New Year festivities, as the organizers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party canceled the event on public safety grounds.
The Edinburgh celebrations, a major tourist draw which last year attracted some 30,000 people, had been due to feature a fireworks display and a concert headlined by Scottish band Texas.
But organizers said it would not be safe to go ahead with preparations for outdoor events scheduled for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday due to “ongoing high winds and inclement weather.”
Planned New Year fireworks in the holiday resort town of Blackpool in northwestern England were also canceled due to a forecast of high winds, the local council said.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a rare severe flood warning of “danger to life” for parts of Scotland.
It said a heavy downpour was expected to burst riverbanks in Aviemore in northern Scotland and nearby areas of the Scottish Highlands.
“Due to persistent and heavy rainfall, river levels on the River Spey will rise throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning causing serious flooding,” it said.
“Extensive flooding to properties and businesses is expected in and around Aviemore.”
The UK’s Met Office, meanwhile, said heavy rain and strong winds could be expected in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Some snow was also forecast for parts of Scotland.
“A series of low-pressure systems will track across the UK over the next couple of days bringing some potentially disruptive weather,” said Met Office meteorologist Steve Willington.
“Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning” over the coming week, he added.
A Met Office amber warning for rain and snow — the second most severe weather notice, meaning there is a potential risk to life — is in place for Scotland.
A number of less severe yellow warnings for rain, wind and snow were also in place for Scotland and northern England.