Islamic State (IS) militants have tweeted pictures of a military "graduating class" which show dozens of foreign fighters with masks, fatigues and AK-47s who are now ready to advance to killing in the name of IS' ideology.
According to Fox News, the graduation pictures mark the 18 months of training in weaponry and ideology at a university in Deir Az-Zour in northern Syria.
Ryan Mauro, security analyst and adjunct professor of Homeland Security for the Clarion Project said that IS is sending two messages, one is that the Caliphate is an "actual functioning and legitimate state" and second is that "this is a long-term struggle".
According to analysts, IS wants to project an image of nationalistic military training.
IS is also training assassins as young as eight years old and launching their own three year medical school of sorts.