Syria militants trained on Qatari soil: Report

According to a new report, militants fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria are being covertly trained on the Qatari soil with the help of the United States.

On Wednesday, the unnamed security sources said the militants are being provided with training at a camp located south of the Qatari capital, Doha, between the Saudi border and the US-run al-Udeid Air Base, Reuters reported.

The sources noted that militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) were among those receiving training as part of a program which has been running for almost a year.

Groups of 12 to 20 militants travel from Syria to Turkey and are then flown to Doha and driven to the training camp, the sources said, adding that the militants were initially identified by the CIA spy agency.

Militants “from the FSA and other groups have been flown in to get trained in things like ambush techniques,” said a source close to the Qatari government, whose name was not released.

Another source estimated that the training “would last a few months, maybe two or three, and then a new group would be flown in.”

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, more than 200,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict over the past more than three years.

Since late September, the United States, along with some of its Arab allies, has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

This is while many of the countries joining the US-led bombing coalition, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been staunch supporters of the Takfiri ISIL elements in their fight against the government of President Assad.