Anderson and McDonald were placed under surveillance which eventually led officers to a house in the Garthamlock area where a machine gun, grenades and ammunition were discovered.

This area was a key opposition heartland during the Assad regime - heavy battles are etched onto schools and homes here, village after village corroded by tank rounds and machine gun fire.

Meanwhile, dozens of militants kept up a near-constant staccato of celebratory machine gun fire, leaving a carpet of spent cartridges on the asphalt.

Others showed rebel fighters gathering in squares and firing what appeared to be celebratory machine gun salvos into the air.

He trained in San Diego — to fire a machine gun, position a gas mask, prove he could swim — and shipped out to Hawaii.