New Videos Show Even More Heavy Weapons Captured From The 46th Regiment

As I've been posting for the last few days a recent major victory at the 46th Regiment base near Aleppo has resulted in large numbers of heavy weapons being captured by the Syrian opposition, including surface to air missiles, tanks, and artillery.  Now more photographs and videos have been posted online showing a large collection of heavy weapons that are claimed to have been captured from the 46th Regiment base.

In this first video we at first see, from right to left, a T-55 tank, a BMP-1, what I believe is a BMP variant, and three more tank, possibly T-55s. We then see 6 truck mounted guns, including ZPU-2s, DShKs, and KPVs, likely used in the attack rather than captured from the base.

We then have this video from the same gathering showing off some of the artillery captured

First we see a 130 mm M-46 field artillery gun, then three D-30 howitzers, which I gave more details on in an earlier post. 

HamaEcho posted a number of photographs showing even more equipment, apparently taken at the same gathering.

In this first picture we get another look at the 130mm M-46 field artillery gun, along with four Type-63 multiple rocket launcher, a weapon that until now was the longest ranged artillery weapon widely available to the Syrian opposition (see here for more details of their past use).

This photo provides us with another angle on the various collected artillery pieces.

Again, another angle on the artillery, and what I believe is a 120mm M1938M mortar.  Finally we have one last video from Al Jazeera Arabic filmed at this gathering

It's difficult to get a sense of whether or not they filmed additional vehicles and weapons, but at one point a BTR-60 or BTR-70 is visible in the background.

It should be noted one earlier video showed six Type-63 launchers, and there's no sign of the surface to air missiles captured, so it seems unlikely this shows off every heavy weapon captured.

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

Videos Show More Heavy Weapons Captured From The 46th Regiment

Early on this week I posted about some of the equipment captured from the 46th Regiment base near Aleppo after an attack by the Syrian opposition, including videos of T-55 tanks, Type-63 rockets launchers, SA-7 and SA-16 surface to air missiles, and various artillery pieces.  Two new videos have now been posted showing more equipment looted from the base.  This first lengthy video provides us with a tour of the 46th Regiment base

At 3:26 we see two T-55 tanks, one of which we see later loaded onto a truck, ready to be transported out of the base.  We also see plenty of abandoned trucks, as well as the same BTR-60 I highlighted in this earlier video.

Away from the 46th Regiment base we have this selection of heavy weapons reportedly captured from the base

It begins with a T-55 tank, then shows a D-30 howizter, followed by a 130 mm M-46 field artillery gun, and a second D-30 howitzer.  The D-30 howitzer has an effective range of 15.4km, 21.9km with a rocket assisted projectile; and the M-46 field artillery has a range of between 27.5km to 38km with a rocket assisted projectile.  Compared to the range of the Syrian opposition most recently used long range weapon, the Type-63 multiple rocket launcher with a 8.05km range, it's clear this would be a significant improvement in the range of heavy weapons used by the Syrian opposition.  The question is whether or not the Syrian opposition has members who can use these weapons accurately and effectively.

We might see these weapons making an appearance soon at another key battle being fought at the Sheikh Suleiman army base, 15km north of the 46th Regiment base.  Covering around 200 hectares of rocky hills 25km west of Aleppo the Syrian opposition claims "The day Sheikh Suleiman falls, all of western Aleppo will finally be liberated. Give it 45 days and Aleppo city will fall too", and with the 46th Regiment base captured after a lengthy siege freeing up it's attackers to join the battle at Sheikh Suleiman with their freshly acquired heavy weapons it seems as if this may not be an idle boast.

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

Heavy Weapons And Surface To Air Missiles Captured From The 46th Regiment Base

Today we've seen a number of reports about the capture of the 46th Regiment base west of Aleppo, after two months of fighting around the base.  EA Worldview has a summary of the events, which includes these claims

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