Brown Moses Blog: State TV

Showing posts with label State TV. Show all posts

Friday, 22 March 2013

State TV Shows MANPADS And French MILAN AT Missiles Captured From Syrian Opposition Fighters

The below video from Syrian State TV shows various weapons and ammunition reportedly captured from opposition fighters in the Hama region.

Among the dozens of large mortar rounds, thousands of bullets, and various heavy machine guns a few items stand out. On the less unusual side of things we see a pair of Metis-M missile tubes, a wire-guided anti-tank system which hasn't been an uncommon sight in the conflict, and is part of the Syrian army's arsenal

What's far more interesting are the items in this shot

To the right there are two SA-7 MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defence Systems), minus the grip-stocks required to operate both systems. While not an unusual sight in the conflict, this is the first time I've seen any MANPADS captured and shown on State TV. The three large tubes with the octagonal ends are something much more interesting, the first examples that I've seen of French MILAN anti-tank missiles in Syria. While the quality of the video is quite poor I've numbered the two following images to demonstrate 7 matching features on both the items shown in the video and a reference image of a MILAN missile

1 - The octagonal end piece.
2 - Dark red stripe.
3 - Yellow triangle.
4 - Yellow arrow.
5 - Handle.
6 - Yellow text.
7 - Circular symbol.

When most followers of the various Arab Spring conflicts think of MILAN missiles they will probably think of the MILAN AT missiles provided to the Libyan rebels by Qatar, and seeing the same types of missiles apparently appearing in the possession of the Syrian opposition will also probably make them think about reports of Libyan arms being sent to Syria. However, it's important to understand that not only does the Syrian military use MILAN missiles, but so do many other countries in the region, including Syria's neighbours Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey, so although it's the first sighting of these weapons in the conflict that I'm aware of, it cannot be assumed these are being provided the the opposition from abroad.

Related Articles
American Anti-Tank Missile Filmed In Syria
French Rocket Pods Sighted In Syria
Are Assad's Forces Using IEDs In Syria?
Unexploded Bombs Used In A Truck Bomb By Jabhat al-Nusra
Clear Evidence Of DIY Barrel Bombs Being Used By The Syrian Air Force
Unexploded Cluster Bomblets Repurposed As DIY Rocket Warheads
The DIY Weapons Of The Syrian Opposition

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Saturday, 2 February 2013

Foreign Smuggled Weapons Spread Northwards Into Syria

Last week I wrote about videos from Syrian State TV and opposition Youtube channels in the Daraa region that appeared to point to the smuggling of weapons into Syria. These weapons included the M60 recoilless gun and M79 Osa rocket launcher, both produced in the former Yugoslavia, as well as the RPG-22 rocket laucher and Milkor MGL/RBG-6 grenade launcher, both with links to Croatia.

Since then I've been carefully examining videos from the Daraa region looking for more examples of these weapons, and from what I've been able to gather it appears they first began to appear together on January 1st 2013. From about October 2012 one group in that region, the Lajat Armour Brigade, posted videos showing them in possession of RPG-22s (for example here), although not in significant quantities. What appears to happen on January 1st is a number of groups in the region join together to attack the Syrian military in the town of Busr al-Harir, northeast of Daraa city. All the groups involved in the attack appear to be armed with the weapons mentioned above, with only the M60 recoilless gun appearing later than the other 3 weapons, around two weeks into the fighting. During the fighting several tanks and BMPs are destroyed, and from what I can tell the fighters don't seem concerned about preserving the ammunition for these weapons.

While it's difficult to be certain about events my best guess is a large number of these weapons were delivered to one of the larger groups in the Daraa region, which then distributed the weapons to other groups in the region, who all participated in this attack. I believe one of the groups at the center of this may be the Omari Brigade, which appears to be one of the larger and more influential groups in the region, with details of their earlier activities in the region detailed on pages 22-23 of this Institute for the Study of War report.

One other interesting facet of this is that all the groups involved seem to be more on what you could call the FSA end of the Syrian opposition spectrum, as opposed to the Jihadi end of it. This has made me think that perhaps these weapons have been provided specifically to groups that in the long term may oppose the growing power and influence of Jabhat al-Nusra and other Jihadi groups, but currently there's not enough information to come to a firm conclusion.

Since the battle in Busr al-Harir we are now starting to see these weapons appear elsewhere in Syria, for example, here we have the Ababil Horan Brigade, originally based in the Horan region surrounding Daraa, using a M60 recoilless gun in Aqraba, Damascus, the first video of them using this weapon in that area appearing on January 26th

Next in the Hama region we have the Descendants of the Prophet brigade and an Milkor MGL/RBG-6 grenade launcher

And this third video is what I think is the most interesting of all. Filmed in Aleppo it shows a M79 rocket launcher, but what's interesting is who it is being shown to

The man shown in the video is Colonel Abdul-Jabbar Mohammed Aqidi, reportedly the former commander of the Free Syrian Army in the Aleppo province, and now part of the recently formed Supreme Military Council, acting as one of six representatives for the Northern Front, and maybe more tellingly, one of two members of the armament committee for the Northern Front, with this video being one of a series from his recent visit to opposition forces in Aleppo.

So what does this all mean? Well, it's hard to know if it's just a co-incidence that the newly smuggled weapons from the former-Yugoslavia end up being held by a senior member of the opposition in Aleppo, or that they only appear to be going to groups that seem to be aligned with the Syrian Opposition Coalition and Free Syrian Army, but it does seem for certain these weapons are spreading through Syria, and they must be coming into the country in significant quantities.

Friday, 25 January 2013

Evidence Of Multiple Foreign Weapon Systems Smuggled To The Syrian Opposition In Daraa

Recently the following video was shown on Syrian State TV showing what was claimed to be a cargo of weapons destined for the Syrian opposition seized near Daraa, in the southwest of Syria

Generally I consider Syrian State TV to be a very poor source of accurate information, and I've occasionally written about some of the more obvious examples of propaganda they broadcast in the past, but one thing that I found very interesting about this video is the weapons on display. What's interesting about this video is the types of weapons shown, and the quantity. Here's the weapons that appear in the video

M79 Osa Rocket Launcher

The M79 Osa was originally a Yugoslavian anti-tank weapon, designed in 1979, and still manufactured and used in countries that once made up the former-Yugoslavia. One interesting design element is that the rockets come in pods that attach to the rear of the rocket launcher, with the pods shown above in the first picture, and the launchers shown in the second picture. A clear image of the rocket launcher, rocket pod, and complete system can be seen here.

RPG-22

The RPG-22 is a one-shot disposable anti-tank weapon produced from the early 1980's, and used in a number of countries, but not, as far as I'm aware, Syria. A reference image showing the same markings as seen in the State TV video can be seen here.

M60 Recoilless Gun

The M60 Recoilless Gun is another weapon developed in Yugoslavia, and is not used by the Syrian military. Reference images are difficult to come by, but one can be seen on the right in this photograph.

Milkor MGL/RBG-6

This 40mm grenade launcher originates in South Africa as the Milkor MGL, but is manufactured under license in a number of countries, including Croatia, where it's known as the RBG-6. Due to the poor quality of the video it's unclear which specific model it is. The Syrian military does not currently use this weapon system. Reference images of the RBG-6 can be found here, and it's important to note the folding stock for later.

Here we have four weapon systems, all with links to the same region, the former Yugoslavia, but I'm sure there's many people who will instantly discount anything shown on Syrian State TV as being propaganda or faked in some way. What's very interesting about these weapons is they've all appeared in videos filmed by the Syrian opposition in Daraa at the same time, just as they make significant progress in that region.

For a bit of background on recent events in and around Daraa I spoke to James Miller of EA Worldview, who has been tracking events on the ground in Syria

So, out of nowhere about a month or so ago, rebels overran a lot of the border crossings in Daraa. I thought it was noise. At first I thought that maybe FSA units had left Damascus to pick a fight elsewhere as a diversion then, on January 14th, there came the paratroopers. So basically, for at least 12 days the rebels have had total control over Busr al Harir, perhaps even longer, but for the last week and a half the regime has been desperately fighting to get it back, but they seem incapable of doing so. Daraa is not a region where a lot of air bases have been lost, and the town is just not that big, so how are the rebels putting up this kind of a fight? Bases have been captured near Damascus, but no significant base has fallen in this region for several months.

A number of Youtube channels have been used by groups local to Busr al-Harir, and I've spent quite a bit of time reviewing the videos posted on those channels over the last few months. What I've found is around 3 weeks ago videos started being posted showing all the weapons I've listed above. Here's some examples:

Milkor MGL/RBG-6

M60 Recoilless Gun

RPG-22

M79 Osa Rocket Launcher

There's many more videos on the same channels as the above videos showing these same weapons in use in Busr al-Harir, and it's very hard to not conclude that the Syrian opposition in that area has recently received at least one shipment of arms from abroad, likely from nearby Jordan, and with a strong possibility the shipment originated in one of the countries that made up the former-Yugoslavia. A couple of examples of these same weapons have also recently been seen in the Deir Ez Zor and Aleppo regions, so that raises the question of whether or not this apparent smuggling operation is operating in those regions as well.