Saturday 7 July 2012

The Latest Weapons Of The Free Syrian Army

Following on from my last two posts on the FSA's weapons and equipment (here and here) here's a number of videos posted by opposition activists showing a variety of weapons in use by the FSA.

AA and Heavy Machine Guns
What's been interesting over the last couple of weeks is the increasing reports of helicopters being shot down by the FSA, and the various videos showing DShK machine guns being used to target helicopters.  For that reason I'm going to group AA guns and heavy machine guns together, as it appears they are being used interchangeably, as the following videos will demonstrate.  As noted last time a great number of the ZU-23-2 videos come from the Aleppo region, so it's unclear if they are being used by the FSA in great numbers outside of that area

Unknown location - The Free Syrian Army remanufacturing an anti-aircraft gun to attach to a truck

Aleppo - "Brigade of the North" fire at the helicopter airport "Meng" with a ZU-23-2 cannon on a truck
Aleppo - Captured ZU-23-2 AA gun
Aleppo, Izaz - DShK firing at a helicopter
Aleppo, Izaz - Truck mounted DShK claims to have shot down an aircraft
Unknown location - Another DShK being used to fire at aircraft
Aleppo, Andan - Truck mounted ZU-23-2  
Mortars
One thing I've noticed this week is a big increase in the number of mortars being filmed in use, and how a number of them are smaller mortars, possibly 60mm, rather than the large 120mm mortars previously posted. Here's some examples

Deir Ez Zor - Possibly a 82mm mortar in use by the FSA
Deir Ez Zor - A smaller mortar being used by the FSA, possibly a 60mm mortar
Homs - Ansar Battalion tribute video with a 60mm mortar at 1:45
Unknown location - Fatih Sultan Mehmet battalion, affiliated to al-Faruq, using 82mm mortars
Aleppo, Hadzder - Heart of the North Battalion using 60mm mortars
Aleppo, Andan - Truck mounted mortar captured by the FSA in an ambush
Amour
There's also been more reports and videos of captured armoured, and Bjørn H Jespersen has put together a useful guide to the different T-series tanks used in Syria for easy identification that worth a read. 

Deir Ez Zor - One of seven T-55 tanks the FSA claim to have captured
Deir Ez Zor - More footage of the seven tanks the FSA claim to have captured
Unknown location - Captured T-62
Daraa - Armoured car captured from security forces in the city
Homs - Al Farouq Battalion with two captured army trucks and two captured BMP variants, including one BMP-1
Captured and purchased weapons and ammo 
As before the FSA continue to capture and purchase weapons and ammo

Aleppo - Large selection of small arms and ammo captured from the army, including what appears to be two ZU23 barrels plus ammo
Dier Ez Zor - Ammo and tanks/artillery shells
Aleppo, Izaz - Weapons looted from the army, many AK-47s
Damascus City - The FSA shows off mortars bought from the black market with donations
Damascus, Horan - More weapons purchased with donations
DIY 
Not so many DIY videos this week, and I've covered them in detail on the linked posts
Aleppo or Idlib - Free of the North Battalion manufacturing weapons (more here)
Unknown location - Bomb making, including armour piercing IEDs (more here)
You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

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