From abseiling onto traffic-jammed roads to fitness training on city pavements, ISIS’ newest video shows its ‘elite’ Special Forces squadron in action.
The comical eight-minute video shows them practicing forced entries on unlocked doors, rappelling down the sides of buildings and bizarrely using large logs to help each other up walls.
And the lack of a formal base does not deter the hapless extremists who make do with the side of a busy road in an unknown Middle East location.
Here the recruits are moulded into the terror group’s deadliest soldiers by a commander who makes them army crawl on pavements and – literally – walks all over them.
One sheepishly looks to the camera as his colleague kicks open an unlocked gate and another seems to lose his balance as he kneels to take his position inside.
And there is little secrecy about this Special Forces unit who train in front of hundreds of bemused onlookers.
A triumphant soldier even showboats to the crowd below by holding up the notorious black flag used by Islamist groups as he hangs upside down – hundreds of feet above the ground below.
But one of his partners in terror struggles to free himself from the rope he traversed down, while some overweight soldiers look a little sluggish running through traffic.
The formation of such a force is not a cause for concern according to former SAS soldier Andy McNab who described the footage as a ‘very funny’ PR film.
The man who uses the name as a pseudonym to protect his identity told MailOnline: ‘Just looking at the guys as they handle weapons… it is clear that not even regular soldiers have much to worry about from these guys.’
And although Islamic State’s aspiration to train a deadly Special Forces battalion is worrying, it is mostly a ‘display of force for a local and international audience’ according to Director of International Security Studies at security think-tank RUSI.
Raffaello Pantucci told MailOnline: ‘They are showing off their capabilities and captured equipment given the US issue M16 rifles on display.
‘By showing off their men’s ability, training and captured equipment, they are demonstrating that they are a strong force that is still in control of its territory and are an effective force.
‘This makes people both fear them, but also makes them an attractive force for people to want to go and join.’
Previous footage from Islamic State’s training camps believed to be in Iraq showed recruits disguised as bushes.
Other drills involved the extremists performing unnecessary forward rolls over mounds which would leave them far more exposed to enemy fire than keeping low with a commando crawl.
While in some scenes, the recruits have a crack at martial arts by taking it turns to smash wall tiles over their own heads.
The terror group, which has been determined to portray itself as a formal military force, showed off its ‘sniper battalion’ in a much more threatening display in late February.
Through its vast social media channels, it released pictures of bearded and clean-shaven men posing with long-range sniper rifles in northern Iraq.
Believes to be a propagandist reply to the hit US film American Sniper, the fighters were kitted out in khaki uniforms, peaked caps and ski goggles to protect them from the glare of the sun.
The unit is part of the Ninewa Division of northern Iraq according to US-based Jihadi tracking organisation SITE.
ISIS snipers have seen action in both Syria and Iraq where they have been responsible for the deaths of many Kurdish and Iraqi soldiers.
They played a prominent role in the battle for Kobane which involved intense street fighting even though the extremists were eventually expelled from the city.
ISIS Twitter accounts were quick to link the battalion to a famous Iraqi sniper who plagued American forces during the Iraqi conflict.
One said the unit was carrying on the legacy of ‘Juba the Sniper’ – a Sunni insurgent who operated in Baghdad from 2005 where he is said to have killed around 40 American soldiers.
