Times of Israel  |  October 13, 2014

New Video Shows Islamic State Training Camp In Iraq

Footage offers a look at methods employed by the Islamist group sweeping through Iraq and Syria

By Tamar Pileggi

Still from a video of Islamic State fighters at a training camp in Iraq. The video was posted online on October 11, 2014. (screen capture: YouTube)

A new Islamic State video, posted online Saturday, documents what appears to be a group of volunteer fighters graduating from a training camp in Iraq.

In the video, hundreds of fighters can be seen after completing a basic training course, which included drills in self-defense, urban warfare tactics, physical fitness, weapons proficiency, and instruction in Islamic law, according to a narrator.

An excerpt of the video was translated by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, an Israel-based watchdog. A longer six-minute clip was uploaded to YouTube on Saturday.

The recording offers a rare glimpse into the training methods employed by the group, which barreled through an outmatched Iraqi army earlier this year, capturing a series of towns and forcing thousands of civilians to flee their extreme version of Islamic rule.

The new fighters demonstrated the skills they have learned by simulating rescue operations while being fired at, rehearsing hand-to-hand combat techniques, and assembling and disassembling weapons.

In a display of physical strength, one instructor can be seen kicking each fighter in the stomach.

Toward the end of the video, a cleric addresses the new “‘mujahideen,” telling them that stepping foot onto the battlefield is only the first step for those destined for martyrdom.

The training took place at the al-Ansari military camp in Nineveh, approximately 100 kilometers from the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, which the group captured earlier this year. The area is home to hundreds of thousands of minorities, most of whom have fled in fear of persecution by the Islamists.

A US-led coalition has battered the group from the air in a bid to keep fighters from continuing their advance, mainly in Iraq.

In Syria, Kurdish fighters have managed to hold off an IS sally into the border city of Kobani, pleading for international help.

On Saturday, Islamic State fighters reached the outskirts of Baghdad, threatening the Iraqi capital for the first time.

According to the MEMRI, this clip is the first installment in a series called The Blood of Jihad.

Original article here.