Rebel fighters took control of the 46th regiment in the western suburb of Aleppo, the last bastion of regime forces in the area and the biggest military base where its artillery and tanks used to bombard the surrounding towns and villages as well as the city of Aleppo. The base also was the main reinforcement’s source to regime forces fighting in Aleppo city. The rebels acquired more than ten military tanks and a number of rocket launchers, heavy artillery in addition to a big quantity of arms and ammunition.Al Jazeera also had this report
Several Youtube channels have been posting footage from the battle, as well as footage of what was captured, including atareb mohrara, atarebintoheart, freenorthernsyria, and atarebsyfree2012, and from those channels we can see a great deal of equipment was looted.
For example, in the below video we see a captured T-55 tank driving away with a D-30 howitzer, with the howitzer's ammo pictured in this video
In this video we see multiple tanks, although from the quality of the video it's unclear if they are functional, or if they are all T-55s
In the below video we briefly see a BTR-60 in the background, along with what appears to be the T-55 shown towing D-30 in the first video, which can be seen clearly in this second video of the scene shot from behind the tank.
These videos show six Type-63 multiple rocket launchers, which I've written about in more detail here
There's also large amounts of crates containing a variety of ammo captured, and in these two videos we get a brief look at a SA-16 missile tube, along with it's battery
It appears that the stack of crates it's in, and the one behind it, are all the same kind of crate, matching the crates seen in the video of SA-24s and SA-16s captured in the Bala Air Defense Base in East Ghouta, outside of Damascus. It should be noted that as with many surface to air missile systems captured by the opposition it appears there are no gripstocks, which are required for the operation of the missile systems alongside the battery and missile tube.
Finally in this video we see trucks loaded up with crates, apparently looted from the ammo dumps, and even a brief glimpse of what looks like the ends of the SA-16 crates at 16s into the video, just on the right hand side
It appears that the Syrian opposition has managed to capture a large amount of heavy weapons with plenty of ammo in this attack, and we may see in coming days these weapons in action around Aleppo.
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You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com
Dear Brown Moses,
ReplyDeleteTwo days ago, a BBC reporter from the Middle East said on the air that he wondered about the Israeli Gen. Brun claim of evidence of chemical weapons because he thought that if he had the confirmed evidence, it is odd that this claim did not appear from other sources.
You have the best documented reports from on the ground that I have seen (been reading for about 7 months). Any information on the chemical weapons? I have some general reports from the US that I would share with you.
Pretty much any evidence of chemical weapon used is widely published, so I've not seen much more than has already been reported. In any case, I think any evidence needs backing up with tests on the ground to confirm it's chemical weapons, and not another source. Feel free to email at brownmoses@gmail.com
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