Qatar Runs Covert Desert Training Camp For Syrian Rebels

Gulf state Qatar is covertly training moderate Syrian rebels at a
desert base with U.S. help to fight both the Islamic State and
President Bashar al-Assad and may include more overtly Islamist
insurgent groups, sources close to the matter has said. Reutersreport:

The camp, south of the capital between Saudi Arabia's border and Al
Udeid, the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, is being used to
train the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other 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 "Free Syrian Army" from northern Syria.

The sources said the effort had been running for nearly a year,
although it was too small to have a significant impact on the
battlefield, and some rebels complained of not being taught advanced
techniques.