Qatar Training Syrian Rebels With US Aid: To Fight Assad and ISIS

Has Run Syrian Rebel Training Camp for Over a Year

A US effort to train Syrian rebels inside Jordan has been extremely high-profile, and led to influxes of rebel fighters into southern Syria across that border. It is not the only effort the US is involved with, however.

Today, it is revealed that the Qatari government has been running a secret rebel training operation on a smaller scale in its country for over a year, and that the US is involved in the operation.

The program is said to be quite small, and operated out of a camp between the Saudi border with Qatar and a major US air base. Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels were among those trained at the site.

The trainees were screened by the CIA in advance and sent in small groups of 12-20 fighters from Turkey to Qatar for the training. The US has declined comment about its involvement in the operation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.