Members of the Lions of Sunna Brigade target a Syrian Arab Army checkpoint in Al-Nabek, Syria back in 2012. You're looking at some of the earliest footage of the Syrian Civil War.

It's hard to believe that the Syrian Civil War was going on in 2012. During 2012, I participated in Operation Eager Lion in the country of Jordan. A portion of that operation was set up as a display of force against the Assad Regime where we sat on the border of Syria in a defensive position and watched as Jordanian and American fixed-wing aircraft put on a display of airpower out in the open desert. In Syria, the war was just getting started between the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Arab Army.

This footage was captured by the IED team who initiated the attack against the SAA checkpoint in Al-Nabek, Syria. They use the first IED to push the Soldiers at the checkpoint in one direction, and then detonate the second IED as a means to cause as many casualties as they possibly can. Today, it's easy to think of the FSA as an extremist faction in the Middle East, because for the most part they have devolved into that. At this point in the conflict however, the Free Syrian Army was comprised almost entirely of defected SAA Soldiers and Police Officers who were fighting for their freedoms after Arab Spring in 2011.