British troops retreat from south Syria, end training to militants

YemenExtra

M.A.

The United Kingdom has withdrawn its troops from the coalition-operated al-Tanf base in Syria’s southwestern desert and de facto ended all military assistance hitherto provided to Free Syrian Army (FSA) affiliated mercenaries in the area.

Just like US military personnel who were also part of the so-called “moderate opposition” training program in southern Syria, British special forces troops operated from a coalition base formed at the town of al-Tanf near Syria’s border with Iraq.

Virtually all of the FSA fighters who were part of the Pentagon-vetted training program had, in previous years, fought pro-government forces in Syria’s Deir Ezzor region alongside the Al-Qaeda-linked Jahbat al-Nusra terrorist group.

According to the UK-based Daily Telegraph news group, the British wind-down of support to FSA militants started in June of this year when at least 20 special forces troops were confirmed to have retreated from the al-Tanf base.

As of very recently, the remainder of the British contingent at al-Tanf has departed taking with them any further UK support for FSA militants in southern Syria.

The coalition-backed militants at al-Tanf have proved themselves almost entirely more interested in fighting against forces led by the Syrian government in southern Syria rather than fighting Daesh aka ISIS, which was meant to be their official purpose as Western proxies in the region.