Turan Group

Turan Group
Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Patch used by the group
Active	April 2017-Present
Ideology	Shiite-Turkish Nationalism Turanism
Area of operations	Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Deir ez-Zor Governorates, Syria
Size	800-1200
Allies	Russia  Syria Hezbollah Wagner Group
Opponents	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Central Syria campaign (2017) Battle of Deir ez-Zor (September–November 2017)

The Turan Group is a private military company founded in the spring of 2017 in Syria by Central Asian, Russian and other former Soviet nationals with Special Forces and general military background. The group is similar to another Russian PMC active in Syria called the Wagner Group however many of its recruits are Central Asians who have adopted Shiite beliefs and were therefore recruited to go to Syria to fight along side other Shiite militia groups such as Hezbollah. In an interview an individual affiliated with the group reported that Russian speaking Arabs with Hezbollah patches had recruited on behalf of the organization, individuals from the former Soviet Union, offering recruits 15000 USD to fight for 8 months in Syria against ISIL.^[1]

Members are the group reportedly use NATO weapons such as M4 Carbines, members of the group also wear black, red and blue stripes on their shirts with "Turan" inscribed on them and patches with a clenched fist holding a Kalashnikov type rifle, similar to Hezbollah's logo. The group also venerate Tamerlane and the Timurid Empire including using Timurid symbols among their own.^[2]

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