A former Dutch army soldier is training young men to fight in Syria, wearing his old uniform while doing so, television current affairs show Nieuwsuur reported on Sunday.

The heavily bearded man, named as Yilmaz, allowed the Dutch programme to film him in action in Syria. In the footage he is shown teaching masked jihad fighters to shoot and keeping in touch with his family in the Netherlands by Skype.

Yilmaz left the Dutch army in 2012 and went to Syria to fight againt president Assad’s regime. ‘If the Dutch army send soldiers to help the Syrian people I would sign up immediately,’ he said in English. ‘But no-one is doing anything.’

The Dutch security service estimates 120 Dutch nationals are fighting in Syria and several have died. The security service says they could pose a risk to Dutch society on their return.

Yilmaz said he had no intention of learning to make bombs to launch attacks in the Netherlands. ‘Why would I?’ he said.

Yilmaz is speaking in English because he was interviewed via an intermediary, Nieuwsuur said.

Watch the interview here