Muhsen AlMustafa, a Syrian military analyst, visiting his homeland for the first time in a decade, stated: “The foreign fighters in HTS never carried out a single terrorist attack against the US or EU. After the fall of Assad, they received promotions [inside the new security forces] from Ahmed al-Sharaa. And later, when we have a constitution, granting them Syrian citizenship will be good for everyone. They will be settled, so they don’t go and fight in other countries. The new administration cannot return them to their original countries because they would be arrested and possibly killed under torture.”

With a smile, when asked about the Uyghur fighters’ plan, he said: “Good, I think fighting China could be beneficial to the US. One day we might see US support for Turkistan to fight China, just as they did in the past when supporting the Taliban to fight the Soviet Union. Everyone who lost their homeland dreams of fighting for it. But not now – China is too strong.”