At a desert base, Gulf state Qatar, with the help of the United States, has been covertly training the so-called “moderate” Syria rebels to fight the Syrian army and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group as well as other extremist groups for over a year, sources claimed Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi for talks Wednesday, the Kremlin said.
The camp, south of the capital between Saudi Arabia's border and Udeid area, the largest US air base in the Middle East, is being used to train the Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants and other so-called “moderate” rebels, the sources said.
Reuters could not independently identify the participants in the program or witness activity inside the base, which lies in a military zone guarded by Qatari special forces and marked on signposts as a restricted area.
But Syrian rebel sources said training in Qatar has included rebels affiliated to the FSA from northern Syria.