One calls himself “Creeper” and the other is “Wino”, and they’re apparently Los Angeles street gang members who’ve traveled to Syria to fight for Bashar al-Assad’s government.  The two appear in a video released to the Internet by a Mideast monitoring group.

The subtitled video contains some graphic language as the men describe being on the front lines fighting the “enemigos” as they call anti-Assad forces.  The screenplay isn’t exactly Oscar material, homie.

“It’s Syria, homie, we're in Syria, homie.  Frontline, homie, frontline, homie,” says Wino.

“In Middle East, homie, in Syria, still gangbanging,” says Creeper, whose Los Angeles gang affiliation is with the Surenos, a network linked to Mexican cartels.  Wino belongs to a gang called Westside Armenian Power. Members of the Armenian Christian minority in Syria are known to be staunch supporters of Assad.

It’s a strange turn of events in the three-year-old Syrian Civil War.  Prior to this, it was believed that 50 or so Americans might have joined the Jihadists fighting against Assad.  But assuming Wino and Creeper are US citizens, it’ll be the first confirmed case of Americans fighting for Assad.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is a Washington, DC-based, pro-Israel group which released the video.