Qatar Runs Covert Desert Training Camp for Syria Militants with US Help

Local Editor

At a desert base, Gulf state Qatar is covertly training Syrian militants with US help, sources close to the matter say.

The camp, south of the capital between Saudi Arabia's border and Al Udeid, the largest US air base in the Middle East, is being used to train the so-called "Free Syrian Army" [FSA] and other moderate militants, the sources said.

According to Reuters the base lies in a military zone guarded by Qatari special forces and marked on signposts as a restricted area.
But Syrian armed groups sources said training in Qatar has included militants affiliated to the "Free Syrian Army" from northern Syria.

The sources said the effort had been running for nearly a year, although it was too small to have a significant impact on the battlefield, and some militants complained of not being taught advanced techniques.
Small groups of 12 to 20 fighters are identified in Syria and screened by the Central Intelligence Agency, the sources said.

Once cleared of links with "terrorist" factions, they travel to Turkey and are then flown to Doha and driven to the base.
"The US wanted to help the "rebels" oust [Syrian President Bashar]al-Assad but didn't want to be open about their support," said a Western source in Doha.
The CIA declined to comment, as did Qatar's foreign ministry and an "FSA" spokesman in Turkey.

It is not clear whether the Qatari program is coordinated with a strategy of Western and Gulf countries.

""Moderate" "rebels" 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 who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.
"The training would last a few months, maybe two or three, and then a new group would be flown in, but no lethal weapons were supplied to them," one of the sources said.

A source who works with armed groups said Qatar had delivered weapons, mostly mortar bombs, to the so-called "Islamic Front" and some "FSA" brigades about two months ago and had paid some salaries for "Islamic Front" groups.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team