Nusra Front Posts Video of ’Capture’ of US-Trained Militants

Monday, 3 August 2015

Nusra Front Posts Video of ’Capture’ of US-Trained Militants

Al-Qaeda's Syria branch, Nusra Front, has posted a video purportedly showing its capture last week of members of a US-trained militants it accuses of aiding US-led air strikes against the Takfiris.

The video released by Al-Nusra on its YouTube account on Saturday appears to show at least some of the captured militants.

Nusra Front militants

It depicts five men walking through a field in a straight line, hands behind their heads, supervised by one hooded man and one armed man.

One of the apparently detained men tells the camera he was recruited by the US, through intermediaries, to receive training in Turkey for a month and a half.

He said the trainees were each given an M16 assault rifle and some cash to "fight Nusra" in Syria.

A hooded man identifying himself as a Nusra member said the Takfiri group had "cut the hand of the West and the Americans in Syria" by capturing the men.

"Their collaboration with the West is clear," he said, accusing the detained men of helping US-led air strikes against Nusra positions.

The Pentagon denied on Thursday that any graduates of its training program for moderate rebels had been captured in Syria.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that eight members of the 54-strong Division 30 unit inserted into Aleppo province in mid-July were being held by Nusra Front.

While the Takfiri group ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant) has been the main focus of the coalition bombing campaign, Nusra too has been targeted despite its fierce hostility to its Takfiri rival.

In an online statement it published on Friday, Nusra called Division 30 "agents of American interests and projects in the region."

The same day, it launched an offensive against Division 30's headquarters.

In a statement on Facebook, the US-trained militant group said five of its militants had been killed and 18 wounded in the battle for the base.

Under the cover of US-led air strikes, the remaining forces withdrew to the Afrin area of Aleppo province, which is held by Kurdish militia.

At least 25 Nusra militants were killed, the Observatory said.