Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
Dr. Nadya Hilmi
Perhaps after deep thought on my part about the other hidden reasons, in addition to the declared ones, about the reasons for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s visit to China at this precise and sensitive time, I realized that the issue of the “Chinese terrorist Turkistan Islamic Party” and its extensions in Syria and its work with the terrorist organization ISIS The Chinese authorities asked their Syrian counterpart to hand over Uyghur fighters to them and count their numbers. Here it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that the transformation of Syria and Iraq in particular into a destination for jihadists from all corners of the earth was not a coincidental act, but rather an organized act by global and regional intelligence services, with the aim of flooding Syria and Iraq with foreign fighters. While European intelligence services were facilitating the passage of European jihadists to the Middle East and Syria, with the aim of getting rid of them, the finger of blame was directed at the role of Turkish intelligence in bringing in jihadists, led by Chinese Uyghur fighters from the Xinjiang region, and spreading them in Syria and Iraq.
Perhaps this matter, despite its extreme sensitivity to China and its danger, related to the fighters of the Chinese terrorist Turkestan Islamic Party, or what is known as “Uyghur fighters”, may not have been extensively covered in analyzes of the reasons behind Bashar al-Assad’s visit to China, namely China’s attempt and the requests of its officials, at their forefront is the former Chinese Premier (Li Keqiang) in 2021. The Syrian side is requested to assist it in the issue of confronting the Turkestan Party and its expansion in Syria and its relations with the terrorist organization ISIS, which includes Chinese Uyghur fighters and is located in northwestern Syria. The separatist Turkestan Islamic Party, based in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, is considered a terrorist organization by the Chinese authorities, and its work in Syria is a branch of the Uyghur Turkestan Islamic Party, which works with the terrorist organization ISIS in Syria.
The Chinese Ministry of State Security and its counter-terrorism agencies were keen to follow up on the official establishment of a branch of the terrorist Turkestan Islamic Party, which was established in Syria at the beginning of 2014, and which operates in Syria alongside the “Al-Nusra Front” (Al-Qaeda). The leader of the Turkestan Islamic Party in Syria was the terrorist known as “Abu Reda al-Turkestani”, who was killed by Syrian aircraft in a raid on Jisr Al-Shughur Hospital, which was his stronghold. He was followed by the liquidation of the terrorist “Ibrahim Mansour”.
Due to the strong coordination between the Chinese authorities and their Syrian counterparts, the influx of Uyghur terrorists from China to Syria has decreased and may have stopped, specifically starting in 2018, and those who are still fighting with ISIS in Syria are the reason for maintaining the tense situation in the Latakia countryside and launching sporadic attacks on it. With care to settle several thousand Uyghur terrorists and their families there.
What was striking about the Chinese Turkestan Islamic Party in Syria was its participation in the demolition of Syrian churches by its fighters, members of the Uyghur Turkestan Islamic Party, who glorified the acts of destruction. The Turkestan Islamic Party also cooperated in the squares of Homs and Idlib with the Uzbek brigades and the Al-Nusra Front. Here, Jabhat Al-Nusra and ISIS are competing with each other to recruit Uyghur fighters. The flag of the Turkestan Islamic Party was placed in “Jisr Al-Shughur” above the cross of the church after the end of the battle, as evidence of their victory in it. Therefore, China fears that Uyghur fighters will return to it and cause unrest there, especially in China’s Xinjiang region, and for this purpose it is trying to coordinate with the official Syrian authorities to count their numbers and try to arrest them and hand them over to the Chinese authorities.
Western intelligence is trying to obstruct Russia and China by supporting separatist terrorist groups banned there. On the Russian side, Chechen terrorist movements are supported, and on the Chinese side, the East Turkestan Independence Movement is supported, which demands the independence of the Uyghur minority from the Chinese central government in Beijing.
Here, the reports of the Syrian intelligence services loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime indicate the presence of three thousand Chinese terrorist Uyghur fighters affiliated with the Turkestan Islamic Party, fighting in Syria alongside terrorist organizations, especially the Al-Nusra Front and ISIS. Therefore, the meeting between Chinese President “Xi Jinping” and his counterpart Bashar al-Assad focuses on the issue of military and security cooperation between the Chinese security system and the Syrian security services, with a real intention made clear by China to increase its military support for the Syrian army, with the aim of combating and combating Takfiri groups. Specifically, Uyghur fighters of Chinese origin, whom Beijing considers a future threat to it, especially in the Xinjiang region in the west of the country.
Confirmations by the Syrian intelligence services indicate that Uyghur fighters have two main camps in the Syrian Idlib Governorate, the first in the village of Ehsim in the Jabal al-Zawiya area, and the number of those in this camp is estimated at about 2,500 Uyghur fighters from the Turkestan Party, while the second camp of the Chinese terrorist Turkestan Islamic Party is located in the town of Two marshals in Jabal Al-Zawiya. This camp includes about three thousand Uyghur fighters. The Uighur fighters, who brought their families from the Chinese province of Xinjiang to Syria, are intending to settle some villages in Idlib Governorate, and take them as their main headquarters, especially in the villages of Jabal Al-Summaq, from which they expelled their people or confiscated their property in partnership with Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorists.
Uyghur fighters affiliated with the Chinese terrorist Turkestan Islamic Party and its branch in Syria and its extensions with the terrorist organization ISIS are trying to find a foothold in Syria, specifically trying to create their own organization extending from the west of Idlib Governorate and the countryside of Latakia to the south and east of the Iskenderun district in Syria, with a plan in place to settle 200,000 Turkestan fighters in those areas inside Syria, including the families of Turkestan Uyghur fighters. The process of settling Turkestan families in towns such as Rabia, next to Turkmen and Jabal Al-Bair, up to the Salqin region, also took place on a large scale. The most dangerous is the construction of new homes and residential complexes for Chinese Uyghur fighters in Syria in the “Jabal al-Summaq” area in Harem. Or even in Christian villages whose residents were completely abandoned by terrorists, such as the villages of (Al-Yaqubiyah, Al-Ghassaniyah, Hallouz, and Atira). There is also confirmed information that Turkey has granted its citizenship to more than 300,000 Chinese Uighurs since 2011.
Therefore, the visit of Syrian President “Bashar Al-Assad” to China comes in a serious Chinese attempt to cooperate with the Syrian side and Bashar Al-Assad’s intelligence to hand over Uyghur fighters to it and limit their numbers, especially with the common Chinese-Syrian fear that the Chinese terrorist Turkestan Islamic Party in Syria will begin to establish (The Chinese Islamic Emirate of Turkestan) in northern Syria, provided that this emirate is led by the Turkestan fighter (Jund Allah al-Turkestani), in the Jisr Al-Shughur region in particular and other areas close to it, so that this would be the first recognition of its kind for the establishment of an emirate and settlements for the Turkestans in Syria, from those who are fighting since the beginnings of the Syrian crisis
