Russian army displays trophies taken from Syria militants

The Russian army has launched a mobile exhibition to display military vehicles and weapons it captured from foreign-backed militants fighting in Syria.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the train carrying "trophy weapons" will travel 28,500 kilometers.

The train went on show at Kazansky Railway Terminal in Moscow on Saturday, before heading to Crimea, which rejoined Russia in a 2014 referendum. It is set to criss-cross the country before returning to the capital in April.

At Kazansky station, the chief transport official of Russia's military, Major-General Alexander Yaroshevich, said the exhibition is aimed at offering a sense of what the army encounters in Syria.

The train carries tanks and other military vehicles - many with Arabic writing on them - taken from militants in Syria. Captured AK-47 assault rifles and drones are also on display.

Russian jets have been targeting positions held by terror outfits inside Syria at the Damascus government’s request since September 2015. The airstrikes have helped Syrian forces advance against the militants, who have been wreaking havoc in the Arab country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups. 

Earlier this year, Syrian government forces discovered Israeli and US-made weapons and munitions from former positions of foreign-sponsored militants in the country's southwestern province of Dara'a.

Also in January, the Israeli military confirmed reports of its collaboration with militant groups operating against the Syrian government, admitting that it had been providing weapons to them.

In an interview with the British daily The Sunday Times, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, the army’s outgoing chief of staff, said the Israeli regime had supplied “light” weapons to anti-Damascus militant groups operating in Syria’s Golan Heights for “self-defense.”