The Institute claims General Leopoldo Cintra Frias, head of the Cuban Armed Forces, visited Syria with a group of Cuban military personnel.

News reports indicate Cubans have been spotted in Syria and they may be preparing to operate tanks.

An unnamed U.S. official told Fox on Wednesday Cuban troops may have trained in Russia and have possibly arrived in Syria on Russian planes.

The Cuban military, which received support from the Soviet Union prior to its collapse in the 1980s, offered assistance and conducted military operations in a number of nations, including Ghana, Algeria, Syria, Ethiopia, Angola, Nicaragua and El Salvador. In 2012 a Cuban senior general agreed to strengthen military ties with China.

The 1975 Cuban military operation in support of the leftist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola was a large scale operation that fought against U.S.-backed interventions by South Africa and Zaire. Cuba remained in Angola after Zaire and South Africa retreated. Cuba withdrew from the African nation in 1981.