Expert Analysis

A Look at an Al Nusra Terrorist Training Camp

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05EOkapXHY]

 

Obviously, this has been put together for propaganda purposes, but some information can be gleaned from it.  While they seem to be concentrating on maneuvers (though their dispersion is still pretty bad), marksmanship doesn’t seem to have made any headway on the list of priorities since the Iraq insurgency.

You've reached your daily free article limit.

Subscribe and support our veteran writing staff to continue reading.

Get Full Ad-Free Access For Just $0.50/Week

Enjoy unlimited digital access to our Military Culture, Defense, and Foreign Policy coverage content and support a veteran owned business. Already a subscriber?

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05EOkapXHY]

 

Obviously, this has been put together for propaganda purposes, but some information can be gleaned from it.  While they seem to be concentrating on maneuvers (though their dispersion is still pretty bad), marksmanship doesn’t seem to have made any headway on the list of priorities since the Iraq insurgency.

The above video is from the Abu Ghadiyah training camp in Syria.  Abu Ghadiyah was a leader of the AQI facilitation network in Iraq who was killed in a cross-border US SOF raid in 2008.  Another major Al Nusra camp is the Ayman al Zawahiri training camp in Deir al Zour.

There are a lot of similarities between the videos Al Nusra has released of its training camps, and the videos from the AQ training camps in Afghanistan in the ’90s.  In fact, the uniforms appear almost identical, and many of the exercises are the same.

About Pete Nealen View All Posts

is a former Reconnaissance Marine and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. He deployed to Iraq in 2005-2006, and again in 2007, with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Recon Bn. After two years of schools and workups, including Scout/Sniper Basic and Team Leader's Courses, he deployed to Afghanistan with 4th Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, I MEF. He is now the author of the

COMMENTS

You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article.

More from SOFREP

REAL EXPERTS.
REAL NEWS.

Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis.

TRY 14 DAYS FREE

Already a subscriber? Log In