Syrians Present Russians with Bands Used by Rebels who Successfully Attacked Them and Assad’s Forces

The Syrian military presented a Russian delegation visiting a military exhibition in Damascus with red armbands, the distinctive accessory of an elite unit that successfully battled against the Russian military contingent in Syria.

The video of the armbands being presented was published by Clash Report.

Most of the sabotage operations in Idlib against Assad’s forces, Iran and Russia were carried out by fighters who wore these red armbands. They belonged to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Committee). Due to their distinctive armbands, these units were nicknamed the Red Bands.

They carried out high-risk missions, including deep infiltration operations and complex urban combat scenarios.

As one member of the unit told journalists, the Red Bands are a force with specialist training and assignments focused on operations behind the front line.

The main task is behind-the-front-line operations in all their forms, including martyrdom operations (ed.: otherwise known as “istishhad”) and suicide attacks. Even when defending, it is a force that remains in an area after it is occupied in order to inflict maximum damage on the enemy.

The group first came to public attention in 2018 with training videos showing fighters wearing distinctive red armbands during military training. Since then, a number of offensive operations attributed to these units have been documented.

They became especially known for their achievements in the battles in Idlib against Russian-Syrian-Iranian units, as well as the attack on the Russian base of Khmeimim in western Syria, which resulted in the deaths of five Russian servicemen.

In November, the Russian military arrived in the Syrian province of Quneitra on the border with Israel, near the “buffer zone”, with 15 pieces of military equipment.

The final point of the Russian troops’ route is the village of Sayda al-Hanout in the south of the Syrian Golan Heights, near the buffer zone.

This is likely to be part of a security agreement in southern Syria that is currently being discussed.

Syria is interested in having the Russian military police resume patrolling the southern provinces of Syria, as it did before the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime on December 8, 2024.