LONDON/SYDNEY: Syrian forces have arrested Uzbek fighters during a security sweep in the northwest, after a dispute involving one of them escalated into protests outside a government security facility, two Syrian security officials said.

The tensions began after authorities sought to detain an Uzbek fighter accused of opening fire in Idlib city, prompting demonstrations by armed Uzbek fighters demanding his release, according to the officials and locals.

The incident underscores a delicate challenge facing Syria’s Islamist-led government as it attempts to exert state authority over foreign jihadists who came to Syria to fight in the civil war after 2011. Many of them fought alongside or as part of the jihadist group led by President Ahmed al Sharaa, who cut ties with Al Qaeda in 2016.

Security forces carried out arrests in several areas of Idlib countryside, including the towns of Kafriya and al-Foua, targeting Uzbek fighters who participated in the protest, locals and officials said. Military reinforcements and convoys were deployed around Kafriya and al-Foua towns in Idlib province, where sporadic gunfire was heard.

Australia says 13 citizens linked to IS returning home

It was not immediately clear how many of the Uzbek fighters had been arrested. A Syrian security source said there were around 1,500 Uzbek fighters in Syria, some with families.

Future of 3,500 foreign fighters

It marks the second confrontation in recent months between Syrian government forces and foreign militants in Idlib, after tensions surrounding a camp led by French jihadist Omar Diaby, known as Omar Omsen, near the Turkish border last October.

The Syrian government has sought to formalise the status of many of the foreign fighters, bringing thousands of them into the structure of the new Syrian army. Some have assumed senior state roles — a Jordanian commands the Republican Guard tasked with protecting the president, and an Australian heads the newly established sovereign fund. The United States had given its blessing to a Syrian plan to integrate around 3,500 foreign fighters, mainly Uyghurs from China and neighbouring countries, into a newly formed army division, arguing that bringing them under state control was preferable to leaving them outside official structures.

Sharaa has built close ties to the United States over the last year, and Damascus joined a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in November.

Australian IS members

A group of 13 Australians related to the militant Islamic State group is returning home from Syria, Aust­ralian authorities said on Wedn­esday, warning some will face arrest.

The four women and nine children, who had been living in Roj camp in Syria, are expected to land in Sydney and Melbourne airports on Thursday, according to local media.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he received an alert on Wednesday morning when the group’s travel booking was made. “The government is not assisting and will not assist these individuals,” he told a news conference.

“They made an appalling, disgraceful decision. If any of these individuals find their way back to Australia, if they have committed crimes, they can expect to face the full force of the law, without exception.” Police said they collected evidence in Syria as they investigated whether Australians had committed crimes under Australian law, including travelling to a prohibited area and engaging in slave trade.

“Some individuals will be arrested and charged,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said. She did not indicate when they would be arrested, and said others in the group will remain under investigation.

“Children who return in the cohort will be asked to undergo community integration programmes, therapeutic support, and countering violent extremism programmes,” she added.

‘Horrific choice’

The Australian government has issued an exclusion order preventing another woman in the Syrian camp from entering Australia. “These are people who have made what is a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an extraordinary situation,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters.

Australia’s Human Rights Commission president Hugh de Kretser in March urged the government to support the return of 34 Australian women and children living in the Roj camp, where they have been held for seven years, noting Australian citizens had previously returned from the camp in 2019, 2022 and last year.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2026