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Syrian rebels say Britain and U.S. helped train them

AMMAN, Jordan - Weeks before the Obama administration and other Western nations recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, Syrian rebels were receiving training in the use of light and heavy weapons with the backing of the Jordanian, British, and U.S. governments, participants in the training have told McClatchy Newspapers.

Free Syrian Army fighters pray after an attack on a military academyin Tal Sheer, north of Aleppo province. MANU BRABO / Associated Press
Free Syrian Army fighters pray after an attack on a military academyin Tal Sheer, north of Aleppo province. MANU BRABO / Associated PressRead more

AMMAN, Jordan - Weeks before the Obama administration and other Western nations recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people, Syrian rebels were receiving training in the use of light and heavy weapons with the backing of the Jordanian, British, and U.S. governments, participants in the training have told McClatchy Newspapers.

The training took place as far back as October and involved hundreds of rebels, the participants said. In one case, the rebel participant said men he believed were American intelligence officers observed what was taking place. Another said he believed British officers were helping to organize the training. The training itself was handled by Jordanian military officers, the rebels said.

"We hoped there would be more training on larger weapons," said Kamal al-Zoubani, a fighter from the southern Syrian city of Daraa, which often is referred to as the birthplace of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which began nearly 22 months ago. "But we were allowed to take light weapons back to Syria with us."

By November, another rebel said, the training had expanded to antitank weapons and Stinger antiaircraft missiles.

American officials, citing concerns that they didn't know the political leanings of anti-Assad groups, have said repeatedly that they aren't providing weapons to the rebels, leaving that to countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

But there's been little discussion of what role the United States might be playing in training rebel fighters, whose offensives against loyalist Assad forces have been gaining traction in recent months.

This week, the Obama administration recognized the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces as the likely successor to the Assad regime and urged countries to funnel aid through it for the rebels. In tandem with that decision, the administration labeled a key rebel group, the Nusra Front, whose fighters have been at the front lines of many recent rebel victories, an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq in hopes that Qatar and Saudi Arabia would stop assisting it.

Zoubani said the rebel military council in Daraa, a group associated with the secular Free Syrian Army, had selected him to receive the training and that at least three groups of 50 to 60 fighters were trained at a military base in southern Jordan in October. He said he didn't know why he'd been chosen as opposed to other rebels, only that leaders from the military council had contacted him and told him he had receive the training.

He said uniformed Jordanian military officers were present at the training, as well as people he believed to be American intelligence officers.

The second fighter, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he was uncertain whether he was authorized to reveal details, said the training had progressed by November to include antitank and antiaircraft weapons and that the office of Sheikh Mouaz al-Khatib, the Syrian cleric who heads the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, had selected fighters for the training.