This video recently uploaded from al-'Ido in the Latakkia governorate shows a wide variety of weapons, ammunition, and equipment captured by the FSA from the Syrian military.
While this isn't an uncommon sight one of the captured weapons caught my eye. At around 0:56 we spot the ammo for the weapon, then the weapon itself
What this appears to be is a Soviet AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, designed to fire 30mm grenades at a rate of up to 400 rounds/min. The video shows only one or two 29 round belts, and it's unclear if the FSA have captured any more, but this is the first time I'm aware of that the FSA have managed to get their hands on a weapon like this, making it a rather unusual find.
I'm not at all surprised that this gem is popping up in Syrian hands...if one looks at the frequency of use these had in the Soviet-Afghan War (If I remember correctly, AGS-17 platoons were Included all the way to the company level in some cases), the black market all of these Middle Eastern types all seem to have access to must be awash with them; after all, most of the weapons the Taliban are using against our boys now were stolen from the last invaders in the '80s...
I'm not at all surprised that this gem is popping up in Syrian hands...if one looks at the frequency of use these had in the Soviet-Afghan War (If I remember correctly, AGS-17 platoons were Included all the way to the company level in some cases), the black market all of these Middle Eastern types all seem to have access to must be awash with them; after all, most of the weapons the Taliban are using against our boys now were stolen from the last invaders in the '80s...
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