Russia accuses US of training militants in Syria

Moscow: Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday accused the United States of training militants near its base in Syria and instructed them to launch terrorist attacks.
According to the ministry’s statement, the information was obtained after the Syrian government troops killed two militants and caught another two near the historic city of Palmyra earlier in the day.
The captured said they belong to “the Lions of the East Army” numbering about 500 people near the US-led international coalition’s al-Tanf military base. One of the captive said they were trained by US instructors and received weapons and ammunition from the US base.
The task of the militants was to conduct a series of terrorist attacks in the area of Palmyra and enable the passage of about 300 militants to capture the city within the next week, said the ministry. Thousands of displaced people from Raqqa and Deir al-Zour are living in the Rukban refugee camp near the US base,, the ministry said. (IANS)