The Arabic-language manual, titled Zad al-Mujahed (Provisions for a Warrior), was found recently during a Syrian army operation to liberate a militant-held neighborhood in the northern part of Latakia, located 348 kilometers (216 miles) northwest of the capital, Damascus, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported. The manual features the logo of the Guraba publishing house, which is based in the Turkish coastal city of Istanbul, and has contact information and even an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) inside its front cover.
The unnamed Syrian army soldier who made the discovery said the booklet is filled with hatred, calls for war against people who don’t share the extremists’ beliefs, and includes instructions on what must be done with “enemies and their property.”
“The manual comes with instructions on how to burn cities captured by Takfiris, how to cut down all the trees, destroy all life and how to execute prisoners,” the soldier explained.
“It also says that Takfiris have a right to marry their captives, and even mentions the aspect of the possible use of nuclear weapons,” he added.
Turkey has time and again been accused of aiding and abetting the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri militants there, and facilitates their safe passage into the conflict-ridden Arab country.
It is not clear though if the manual was published with the knowledge of Turkish officials.
On May 14, Syrian army soldiers killed all members of a terrorist group affiliated with the Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militant group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front. The slain extremists all had Turkish-built arms and medicines with them.
The development came a day after Syrian intelligence forces said that they had uncovered a haul of medical supplies near Aleppo that came from Turkey and was destined for Daesh terrorists in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Hussein al-Omar, a colonel in Syria’s Military Intelligence Directorate, said the truck, loaded with some 25 tons of medicine and hospital supplies, including a number of dialysis machines, had entered Syria from Turkey’s Bab al-Hawa international border crossing, located on Syria’s northwestern border with Turkey.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Over the past few months, the Takfiri militants active in the Arab country have suffered major setbacks as the Syrian army has managed to liberate several areas.
The United Nations (UN) has stopped its practice of offering an official death toll from the Syrian conflict; but a UN official recently estimated that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the conflict until then.