Syrian rebels admit to receiving US training at al-Tenf

Iran’s news agency said the terrorists were captured on the morning of September 2 in an area about 36 km southeast of Tadmur city after a clash with the Syrian army. Two terrorists were killed in a gunfight while the remaining terrorists were captured alive by the Syrian army.

This information was confirmed by both Russia and Syria, but the exact number of terrorists arrested was not revealed, but they said they came from the al-Tenf region, a Syrian territory under the control of the US military. And what is special is that some terrorists confessed to being trained by the US at the military base in al-Tenf.

According to them, the Americans provided them with weapons and ammunition to plan a number of terrorist activities in Tadmur, Homs province. In addition to the arrested group, there were about 300 other terrorists who also participated in the operation with similar missions.

Before Russia captured the rebel fighters, Polat Can, a senior military commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), accused Russia of cooperating with the terrorist organization IS.

The commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG, the core of the SDF) stated that the evacuation of IS remnants from the Yarmouk pocket in southern Damascus to this area "is proof of the relationship between Russia and this international terrorist organization".

"Now the whole world has confirmed how strong the coordination between Russia and terrorist groups including IS is. The recent agreement between Russia and IS in Damascus is one of Russia's agreements with terrorism," Polat Can said in an interview with the media.

In late May 2018, more than 1,000 IS fighters and their family members were allowed by the Syrian government to lay down their arms and withdraw from the Yarmouk pocket south of Damascus. Syrian government and opposition sources later said that the remaining IS fighters were evacuated to near the al-Rukban refugee camp, located in the al-Tanaf area, which is home to two military bases under the control of the US-led coalition.

This proves that it was the US-led coalition that played a key role in evacuating IS fighters from southern Damascus by accepting them, not Russia, contrary to Polat’s claims. Previously, the US-led coalition and the SDF had made several deals with IS since 2014.

One of the biggest was an evacuation deal reached in the Aleppo city of Manbij in August 2016, allowing more than 2,000 IS fighters to withdraw with their heavy weapons from the city to the Deir Ezzor area to fight the Syrian Army. A larger evacuation deal was reached at the end of the battle for Raqqa in October 2017.

Under the deal, the US-led coalition and the SDF have once again allowed more than 3,000 IS fighters to withdraw from the city, along with their weapons and heavy trucks loaded with ammunition. According to local observers, Polat's accusations are an attempt by the Syrian Kurds to tarnish Russia's image in Syria.