The US military, working at the Al-Tanf base in Syria, actively cooperates with the terrorist group ISIS*, Abu Hamzi, the commander of a militant group that defected to the government forces, told RIA Novosti.
The group, according to him, was trained at the US military base, but recently surrendered to the government army, abandoning the stronghold before that.
The escaped militants were trained to carry out sabotage on oil and gas and transport facilities, as well as terrorist attacks on the territory controlled by Damascus.
"The Americans believe that this land is theirs. They are like kings there. Captain Mike, they're all the same there… They work and cooperate with ISIS. They worked with ISIS*, they let them in, and they are now training them and working with them," Abu Hamzi was quoted as saying by the Agency.
Captain Mike, who was mentioned by the escaped gunman, was his instructor. According to Hamzi, the instructor does not know anything about how the US authorities "use Syrian fighters," "he only knows how to use weapons" and teaches how to handle them. In particular, Abu Hamzi was taught to use American 40-and 50-caliber machine guns.
The US military base is located in the area of Al-Tanf on the border of Syria with Jordan. In the 55-kilometer zone around the base, which is controlled by the US military, there is a refugee camp. The Russian military, representatives of the Russian and Syrian Foreign Ministries have repeatedly stated that the situation in the camp is close to a humanitarian disaster.
Abu Hamzi also said that the refugees in the al-Rukban camp receive only 10% of the humanitarian aid intended for them, and the rest is put on sale by ISIS* terrorists controlled by the US military.
"Yes, it is ISIS fighters who have food with [UN Children's Fund] UNICEF stickers <...>. They were selling it. First, these products were thrown out behind the embankment, and [illegal] armed groups took them, loaded them into cars and sent them to unknown places <...>. Only 10% of [aid] is received by refugees, " Abu Hamzi was quoted as saying by TASS.
He said that he saw a group of 30-40 ISIS* members trained by the US military personnel at the base in Al-Tanf. And some of the radicals were periodically released for unknown reasons, they could "move where they want". In addition, Abu Hamzi said that a number of terrorists, whom he personally caught while guarding the al-Rukban camp, and handed over to the Americans, were then released and working for the US military.
The interlocutor also told about how he became a militant. Before the war in Syria, he lived in the city of as-Suwayda, which is the administrative centre of the province, where he raised sheep. When ISIS* fighters came there, the man and his companions decided to flee, but they were unable to leave the territory where the extremists were dominating, and Abu Hamzi had to cooperate with theJaysh Ahrar al-Ashayer group to save his life. He was then sent to Jordan for training, after which he was transferred to al-Rukban and told that he would now "fight against ISIS from this side."
* Terrorist organization banned in Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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