This following video, claiming to show a delivery of arms to southern Damascus, was posted online today (thanks to Johnny Six)
While not a huge number of weapons, it does provide a good cross-section of the types of weapons now being used by the opposition.
On the left of the picture there's four Chinese FN-6 MANPADS, which, according to the New York Times, have been provided to the opposition by Qatar. Normally effective anti-aircraft missiles, the arms supplied by Qatar have been reportedly plagued with technical problems, including the batteries running out of power, the targeting systems not working, and the missiles failing to reach their targets.
To the rear there's a number of AT-3/9K11 Malyutka anti-tank missiles, likely captured from government stockpiles, and regularly used by opposition forces.
On the right there's a DIY rocket launcher, a frequently used design that's likely used to launch 107mm rockets, as used by Type-63 multiple rocket launcher systems (and their licensed copies). The Type-63 is widely used by Syrian government forces, and widely captured by the Syrian opposition, and these smaller DIY launchers are easier to transport than the complete Type-63 system.
Also pictures are mortar rounds and what appears to be a Browning M2, or a licensed copy, which is used widely across the region, and possibly acquired from the black-market.
This is what's now a pretty typical selection of weapons for the opposition in much of the country, and a good example of how the opposition has gone from AK-47s and RPG-7s to more advanced and powerful weaponry over the course of the conflict. None of these can be said to be game-changers at this point in the conflict, but it does show they have weapons that are capable of taking on Assad's forces both on the ground and in the air.
A few weeks ago I was sent a photograph of a unidentified munition recovered by fighters in Qusayr, reportedly fired by government forces
My eye was drawn to the markings, with "M220" possibly referring to part of an BGM-71 TOW, a type of US wire-guided missile, or the M220 propelling cartridge for M889A1/M889A2/M821A2 81mm high explosive mortar bombs. However, it wasn't clear how either would relate to this munition, so this device remained a mystery.
Thanks to the freelance journalist Josh Wood I now have much more information on these items, including a gallery of photographs, and details of how they were actually used. Josh told me this about his interview with the opposition fighter who provided the images
This weapon was used by Hezbollah forces in Qusayr. He described them as 107mm rockets fitted to something with a higher payload, with the 107mm propelling everything. He said the max range on these was about 1 km, but most of the time they were simply fired across the street horizontally at extremely close range. By his description, one of these could do significant damage to a small house. He said that these rockets really helped Hezbollah shift the tide in parts of that front-line.
The description of the damage it did to buildings reminded me of something Colonel Aqidi of the Free Syrian Army said in his interview about the situation he encountered in Qusayr
The enemy was applying a scorched earth policy by firing Iranian vacuum bombs, which caused whole building to fall down.
He may not be referring to these devices, as there was a lot of ordnance being used, but I'd assume he'd know the bombs dropped by the air-force are all Soviet. So what is this device?
I believe what we have here is what's know as an IRAM, an Improvised Rocket Assisted Mortar/Munition. In it's most basic form it's a barrel of explosives with a rocket motor attached (commonly from 107mm rockets), which allows an oversized payload to be launched a short range. It's a weapon used extensively in Iraq, as former United States Navy explosives ordnance disposal officer John Ismay told the New York Times
These weapons were solely used by Jaysh al Mahdi (JAM) Special Groups, which were the Shia fighting groups trained/funded/financed/equipped by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force.
If I’m not mistaken, only one group was really tied to the IRAM, and that was Kataib Hezbollah.
Kataib Hezbollah shouldn't been mistaken for Lebanon's Hezbollah, but they do have some obvious things in common with each other.
As the above New York Times article points out, this isn't the first time IRAMs have been spotted in Syria, with around a dozen videos posted so far. What is interesting about this IRAM is the design is very different from the others used so far, as appears to have a much larger warhead.
Both types use 107mm rockets, but in the earlier IRAMs the warhead appears to be generally smaller than the rocket, while in the above example it seems larger. CJ Chivers had this to say on the warhead
The point re: the M220 is not that the warhead originated from either a TOW or a mortar round; that's not especially important, because obviously it is not either. It's that someone may have repurposed a munitions storage case instead of using a large pipe, water tank, small barrel etc for a DIY projectile.
I spoke to John Ismay, and asked him about the design of the IRAM:
I was wondering if this looks like a design you've encountered before?
The design in the photographs doesn't look like the ones we encountered in Iraq. Those generally used an acetylene tank for a warhead section. The fuzes were a pyrotechnic time-delay and were generally all of the same design.
The tail section is very different from what we've seen in previous IRAMs, what are your thoughts on it's design?
The tail section shown in the photographs is curious, and probably is one of several reasons this weapon failed to function as designed. The Fadjr-1 is an Iranian copy of the Chinese Type 63 artillery rocket. These rockets have six canted venturi nozzles that impart instantaneous stabilizing spin to the weapon, thus freeing it from needing a rifled launcher. Check this page for some diagrams.
Thus, the added tail section is superfluous, and only adds weight to the tail. I suppose it's possible that the designer thought the addition would better help it fit into a cylindrical launcher, but this is really a cosmetic change at best and an additional destabilizing mod (on an already non-aerodynamic system) at worst.
As John highlights, the rocket used is Iranian in origin, with it's markings visible in this picture
Here we can see the rockets were manufactured in 2007, which is co-incidentally the same date on a cargo of smuggled 107mm rockets from Iran intercepted by the Israelis in 2009.
Possibly also related to these IRAMs is this video, which claims to be leaked from Hezbollah fighters
At the start of the video there's a truck mounted multiple barreled rocket launcher of a type I've not seen before. The rocket tubes seem to be very large, far larger than any system I've seen mounted on a truck, but possibly the correct size for the above IRAMs. The video quality is very poor, so it's hard to be certain, but this might be a first look at the system used to launch these IRAMs.
In the past week Iran has been accused of violating a UN Security Council ban on weapons exports, including sending arms to Syria
The new report, submitted by a panel of sanctions-monitoring experts to the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee, said the panel investigated three large illegal shipments of Iranian weapons over the past year.
"Iran has continued to defy the international community through illegal arms shipments," it stated. "Two of these cases involved (Syria), as were the majority of cases inspected by the Panel during its previous mandate, underscoring that Syria continues to be the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers."
The following video from Agraba, Damascus, shows a very rare example of evidence that supports those accusations
Here we have a unexploded 107mm rocket, typically launched by Type-63 multiple rocket launchers, a system used widely by both sides in the conflict. It's claimed in the video that this has been fired by government forces, and appears to be fully intact.
107mm rockets are manufactured in a number of countries, but the markings on this example strongly indicate it was manufactured in Iran. First here's reference images of the 107mm rocket manufactured by China and Iran
Note the colouring of the rocket, as well as the marking. Here's the rocket from the video
It's very clear the rocket in the video is a perfect match for the Iranian examples, and what's extremely interesting is the date of manufacture, which can be clearly seen in this screenshot
Now, unless the reports of an Iranian time machine are true, it appears what we have here is an Iranian rocket manufactured in 2012, during the Syrian conflict, and the arms embargo, that has managed to find it's way into Damascus. With at 10km range it seems unlikely these rockets have flown from Iran to Syria under their own power, so this is very strong evidence that Iran has been arming Syria during the conflict, despite UN sanctions.
This following video, posted online yesterday, shows what are claimed to be attacks on Hezbollah positions in Syria and Lebanon by Syrian opposition members
This would obviously be quite significant if true, as it would mean members of the Syrian opposition are now attacking positions inside Lebanon. There's a certain amount of additional information that can be gleaned from this video. At the start we see a collection of 107mm rockets, generally used by rocket launchers such as the Type-63
After that, we see one of the 107mm rockets loaded into a DIY launching platform of questionable accuracy
Next we see a 12 barrel DIY rocket launcher mounted on the back of a truck
Here we see S-5 rockets being loaded into the missile tubes
And finally rockets being fired
S-5 rockets are not designed to be surface-to-surface weapons, and are usually fired from rocket pods attached to helicopters or jets, so their accuracy is questionable when launched like this.
What's not stated in the video is the name of the group involved in the attack, but fortunately the DIY multiple rocket launcher appears to be a unique design, and the same one appears in other videos filmed in the same region
You'll also note that the person operating the launcher in all four videos is the same guy, with a very distinctive arm-less jacket. The above videos belong to the Omar al-Farouq brigade, although I'm unclear if they are related to the Farouq Brigades.
