Recently Foreign Policy published a piece I had written for them on DIY weapons used in the Syrian conflict, How to Build an Army in Your Basement, which demonstrates some of the more common DIY weapons I've come across being used in Syria. In this post I'll take a look at some of the more unique weapons that I couldn't include in the article, starting first with this remote control bomb
Here we have shells being prepared for a DIY cannon, as well as a video of it being fired
This video shows a DIY launcher for S5 rockets, commonly fired from missile pods attached to helicopters (and less commonly rocket pods welded to trucks)
Here's a selection of IEDs designed to destroy "T-82" tanks, which would be an impressive feat indeed, as they don't exist
More remote control weapons, this time a machine gun with it's own video camera targeting system
Here the cannon from a BMP-1 has been mounted onto a truck, possibly preserving the auto-loader system
And here's a somewhat less advance version of the above
And finally we have another DIY weapon used by Assad's force, the IRAM, written about at length by CJ Chivers here
Here's the latest round up of weapons and equipment featured in FSA videos posted online. Earlier posts can be found here, here ,and here.
AA guns and truck mounted heavy machine guns
Not many new videos in this section, but it's interesting to note the ZU-23-2s being used to fire at ground level targets.
Aleppo - Truck mounted ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun
Unknown - Truck mounted ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun
Jarabulus, Aleppo - Truck mounted DShK
Mortars and rockets
A couple of interesting ones this time round, including a video showing a LAW rocket launcher, the supply of which was covered in a recent Reuters article, alongside what may be home made rockets. There's also an rare sighting of a more advanced anti-tank system.
Talbisah, Homs - Mortar being fired at a shabiha base
Homs - Al-Farouq Brigade - Firing mortars at a shabiha base
Unknown location - Descendants of Khalid ibn al-Walid Battalion - What appears to be homemade missiles, and a LAW
Tanks and armoured cars
As before, the FSA appears to be capturing an ever increasing number of armoured vehicles, and as I reported earlier in the week we've seen the first example of a T-series tank being used in combat by the FSA.
Rastan - Al-Farouq Brigade - 3 T-62 tanks and one armoured car (more details here)
Rastan - Al-Farouq Brigade - One tank, possibly a T-62
Andan, Aleppo - Champions Andan - T-72 tank
Homs - Umar's Free Army Battalion - Battalion formation video with a T-72 tank
Midan, Damascus - Armoured car captured from security forces
Talbiseh, Homs - A mixture of six armoured cars and BMPs captured by the FSA
Ammo, guns and other equipment
Idlib - 4 DShK machines guns, 1 mortar, 60+ mortar shells, and a handful of RPG rockets
DIY
This week we see a return of an old favourite, and a use for all those destroyed and disabled BMPs
Aleppo - A large catapult being used to launch home made explosives
Unknown location - BMP cannon mounted on the back of a truck
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
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)
Following my earlier post, The Increasingly Well Armed FSA, And Other Oddities, I've been on the look out for videos that give an indication of how well armed the FSA. Aside from the endless defection and brigade formation videos, which usually feature the same small arms, there's been an increase in videos showing truck mounted heavy machine guns and AA guns. Here's a selection of videos posted over the last couple of weeks
Unknown location - Truck mounted DShK heavy machine gun
Al Bab, Aleppo - Truck mounted unknown heavy machine gun
Jabel Zawieh, Idlib - Truck mounted gun, possibly a single barreled ZU-23-2 variant
Idlib - Truck mounted DShK with metal shield
Update June 30th@ginnysacksmole tells me the above individual shown operating the DShK above apparently shot down the helicopter shown lower down in this post, and received a reward of 50,000.00 SYP (781.86USD), according to reports from activists.
Hamidia, Homs - Truck mounted DShk heavy machine gun
Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib - One mounted AA gun, possibly a ZU-23 variant, and a mounted heavy machine gun with a metal shield
Deir ez Zor - Alsaitat Battalion - Truck mounted DShK
As you can see, the majority appear to be DShK heavy machine gun, with only one video (an M2 Browning) of a non-Russian made heavy machine gun posted online as far as I'm aware.
The next set of videos shows the second most prevalent heavy weapon I've come across, AA guns.
Mount Simon, North of Aleppo - Freedom Martyrs Brigade in a captured army base. ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun
Rural Aleppo - Atareb Battalion - Captured 57 mm AZP S-60 and ammo
Qabtane Ej Jebel, Aleppo - ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun firing at helicopter
Although these videos are in Aleppo there have been reports of AA guns captured in other areas of Syria, and as there's also videos of the previously mentioned DShK heavy machine guns being used to fire at helicopters, which might explain where there's started to be reports of downed Syrian helicopters, including this one in Idlib
On top of the captured AA guns there's also been a number of videos showing captured armoured vehicles in a number of different locations.
Jabal Az Zawija, Idlib - Sham Falcons Brigade - Two captured military trucks and an unknown tank
Idlib - Captured BMP-1
Idlib - Captured BMP, unknown model.
I've yet to see any videos of these vehicles in combat, but it does show there's an increasing amount of armour falling into the hands of the FSA, and with an increasing amount of AA guns also falling into their hands they might actually be able to use it with the risk of it being destroyed from the air.
There's also been more videos of weapons, ammo, and equipment captured by the FSA.
Unknown - FSA capturing a truck supposedly loaded with weapons and ammo, unknown contents
Deir Al-Zour - Around 100 assault rifles, likely AK-47s, and a few RPG launchers captured along with ammo
Sheikh Barakat, Aleppo - At 3:20 crates at the captured radio station, unknown contents
So it seems that there's a steady flow of small arms and ammo from captured checkpoints and bases. This influx of small arms is clearly reflected in the following videos, which demonstrate the sort of numbers the FSA can now muster.
Maerdebseh, Idlib - Around 50 FSA fighters armed with a variety of light arms storm the Maerdebseh checkpoint, capturing a tank
Douma, Damascus - A column of dozens of FSA fighters armed with a variety of light arms traveling in a convoy that includes heavy machine guns or AA guns mounted on trucks
Derbers, Deir-Ez Zor - A variety of videos demonstrating the strength and equipment of local forces
Rastan – Formation of the al-Hamza Brigade, demonstrating the increasing size of local FSA forces
Update June 30th Hama Echo has noted in the above video that at 0:47s in the above video you can on the right hand side of the screen a man in blue trousers holding a Strela-2 (SA-7) surface to air missile. Rastan, where this video was filmed, is about 10km away from the missile base that defected on June 10th, from which it is has been reported a number of Stela-2's were looted.
One group that has caught my attention is the Al-Ansar brigade that operates in Old Homs and Talbiseh, who according to activists are a civilian group who have captured a number of heavier weapons, as demonstrated below.
Baba Amr, Homs - Al-Ansar brigade using a truck mounted B-10 Recoilless rifle to attack a check point
Talbisheh, Homs - Al-Ansar Battalion using 120mm mortars.
And this post would of course not be complete with a couple of examples of DIY weapons.
Home made mortar system
Home made rocket
In my mind the home made rocket seems rather impractical; even if you could construct it with a guidance system that gave it at least some chance of hitting a useful target it seems unlikely they could be manufactured easily enough, and in a large enough quantity to be of any use. The mortars on the other hand could actually be of some use as it seems like quite a simple system to manufacture rounds for.
As far as I am aware all these videos were filmed in the last two weeks, and I think really shows how well equipped the FSA are getting, especially if you compare it to previous months. There's pretty strong evidence that the Syrian government is losing control of much of the Aleppo region, including losing military bases, which means more equipment for the FSA in a region where they also have the advantage of a fairly open border with Turkey.
As always, I'm on the look out for any new footage of weapons and equipment captured or in use by the FSA, and if you think I've made any errors, or can provide any more information about the videos I've posted please let me know.
Update June 30thBH Jespersen has posted about a very interesting rocket launcher spotted in one of the videos coming out of Syria, that possibly shows a Belgian made BL-83 Blindicide (tank killer) rocket launcher. Along with FN FAL rifles and the previously mentioned M2 Browning that brings the total of different Belgian origin weapons to 3.
