OREANDA-NEWS. 52 Syrian mercenaries were killed in the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, The Washington Post reported. As the newspaper noted, the death of Syrian militants threatens to involve external forces, including Turkey, in the conflict, and potentially destabilize neighbouring countries, such as Iran and Georgia.

In early October, the bodies of the dead mercenaries were handed over to relatives at the Syrian–Turkish border post, The Washington Post writes. They were recruited by Turkey-backed military units in Syria to fight Armenia on the side of Azerbaijan. The relatives of the two victims told journalists that the mercenaries went to Azerbaijan from southern Turkey, and the Turkish promised them a monthly salary.

Earlier, human rights activists and the media reported on the presence of mercenaries from the Middle East in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights clarified that both Turkey, which supports Azerbaijan, and the Armenian diaspora were recruiting mercenaries from armed groups in Syria.

Photo: globallookpress.com, Russian Look