---
title: "Marines Are Training For War In Syria Because Twentynine Palms Doesn’t Suck Enough"
date: "2018-09-14"
modified: "2018-09-14"
authors:
  - name: "Jeff Schogol"
    job_title: "Senior Pentagon Reporter"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jeff-schogol/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-training-syria-rebels/"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# Marines Are Training For War In Syria Because Twentynine Palms Doesn’t Suck Enough

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/18990324-1.jpg>)

The Marines recently completed a live-fire exercise in Syria – the one place more hostile to human life than Twentynine-Palms – during which they trained with Syrian rebels backed by the U.S. government, according to U.S. Central Command.

- Operation Apex Tuefelhunden was conducted from Sept. 7-11 near the At Tanf garrison in eastern Syria, according to pictures released by the Marine Corps on Friday. The company-sized element from 3d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment was attached to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, Crisis Response-Central Command.
- “Our forces will demonstrate the capability to deploy rapidly, assault a target with integrated air and ground forces, and conduct a rapid exfiltration anywhere in the OIR combined joint operations area,” CENTCOM spokesman Navy Capt. Bill Urban said in a Sept. 7 news release.

- Marines partnered with the Syrian opposition group Maghawir Al-Thawra – or “Commandos of the Revolution” – which has partnered with the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS in Syria. The exercise took place in the 55-kilometer de-confliction zone around At Tanf, which separates U.S. troops and Syrian partner groups from Syrian regime forces and their Russian allies.
- [Russia reportedly threatened to attack the de-confliction zone](<https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fg-syria-troops-20180907-story.html>) prior to the exercise, claiming that it was a haven for ISIS fighters.
“The U.S. does not require any assistance in our efforts to destroy \[Islamic State\] in the At Tanf de-confliction zone, and we advised the Russians to remain clear,” CENTCOM spokesman Lt. Col. Earl Brown told the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 7.

**WATCH NEXT:**

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/image-placeholder-title-1514.png>)

## Author
Jeff Schogol is the senior Pentagon reporter for Task & Purpose. He reports on both the Defense Department as a whole as well as individual services, covering a variety of topics that include personnel, policy, military justice, deployments, and technology.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/jdschogol/>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-schogol-188a9317/>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/JeffSchogol>)