Militant captured in Syria says trained by American instructors to use US arms

A member of a Takfiri militant group, who was recently detained by Syrian  government forces, has admitted receiving training on how to use US-made weapons under the supervision of American instructors. Russia’s Sputnik news agency released Tuesday the confessions of three members of the so-called Mahavir as-Saura extremist group, who were recently detained by Syrian army soldiers after getting trapped in a minefield near the ancient central city of Palmyra. One of the militants, identified as Abdullah al-Mishuat, revealed that he and his fellows had learned how to handle different types of armaments in training sessions supervised by US instructors. Mishuat said “we were taught to handle all types of weapons by American instructors. All of the weapons were US-made.” He said US instructors would come to the training sessions, adding, “Americans observe from afar, monitor and evaluate the training process. The training were [sic] difficult, they lasted for two or three hours, no less.” Syrian authorities find and seize US-made weapons and ammunition in Syria’s Dara’a and Sweida provinces. Another militant, identified as Jasem al-Ali, recounted how they were caught by Syrian forces when they got lost in a minefield during a mission to spy on “Russian, Iranian and Syrian sites.” “Our group consisted of eight people: seven fighters and one leader who is engaged in smuggling and transporting personnel and drugs. We went on motorcycles to complete the mission and hit the minefield,” he recalled. “We got lost and did not know where to go, because the leader died, and began to look for a way out, while continuing to move. Then we were captured, and the Syrian troops took us here,” he added. The militant said they had been “sent to carry out tasks in the province of Raqqah, in the city of al-Mansoura. We had to get information about Russian, Iranian and Syrian sites,” he said. Russia’s Tass news agency also cited the militant as saying that their espionage mission had started in the Syrian city of al-Tanf, where the US runs a notorious military base.