Yesterday a pair of videos were posted online showing a Mil Mi-8 Hip transport helicopter being shot down by a MANPADS at Abu ad Duhor airbase
The MANPADS used in the second video is a SA-7, pictured below. Take note of the battery, on the bottom left on the launcher
In the video the battery section has been modified, instead of the battery there's a length of cable
This appears to be an attempt to attach the MANPADS to an external power source. Batteries for MANPADS are single use, and don't always have a long shelf-life, so this overcomes that issues, and it's actually not the first conflict where this sort of jury-rigging has been used. This video from Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, shows a SA-7 jury-rigged in the same way targeting Israeli jets
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.
Recently a new Youtube channel has been created for a group calling themselves the Martyr Issam Saleh Air Defense Battalion, part of the Farouq Brigade, one of the major armed groups in Syria. What's very interesting about this channel is the amount of MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) on display
Above we see two examples of what I believe are SA-16 MANPADS, and one SA-7. What we also have is a rare example of a MANPADS being fired in Syria, and while the quality of the video is too poor to be 100% certain I believe this is a SA-16 being fired
While it's unclear if the missile successfully reached it's target it does provide rare evidence of MANPADS being used by the Syrian opposition.
As regular visitors to the blog will know in recent weeks there's been a number of videos surfacing that showed partial SA-16 MANPADS in the possession of the Syrian opposition (see here, here, and here for examples). MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) are shoulder mounted surface to air missile systems, with a number of examples of the more dated SA-7reportedly in use by the Syrian opposition in recent months.
Previous examples of SA-16 sightings in Syria have shown incomplete systems, missing the grip-stock component, which along with the missile tube and battery pack makes up the complete MANPADS system. Missile tubes come preloaded, and battery packs generally have enough charge for one use, with the grip-stock being the only reusable part. This means having a thousand missile tubes and battery packs without a grip-stock is worthless, but one grip-stock would make all of those missile tubes and battery packs usable.
As far as I am aware this is the first example of a complete SA-16 MANPADS system in the possession of the Syrian opposition, and would be a vast improvement on the SA-7 systems seen so far. The main question is how many missiles and battery packs do they have access to?
Update December 18th Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch has just reminded me there was one sighting of a complete SA-16 system before.
As I noted in my recent article about the weapons and equipment captured from the 46th Regiment base outside of Aleppo it appears as at least 10 crates of the type used to store a variety of SA series surface to air missile systems were looted from the base by the Syrian opposition. The ten crates in question can be seen in this video
The only crate that has been opened has a SA-16 missile tube and battery, but no visible grip-stock, a type part of the system that's required for it to be fired. The best view of the crates they are stored in is here
And another example of this type of crate can be seen in this earlier video showing a number of SA-24 missile tubes, this specific examples showing a SA-24 Maket (mock-up) training model
Although the first picture isn't too clear you can see the have roughly the same sort of design, and this is the type of crate these surface to air missiles are transported in. In a later video from the 46th Regiment raid we also see a truck loaded with crates, and we briefly see the end of crates that match the ones seen above
At this point I'm sure at this point you are wondering why I'm going on about the shape and design of crates. What I want to establish is this design of crate is used to transport SA series missile system parts, as we now have this new video from the 313 Brigade featuring one of the same type of crates that contains a complete SA-7 missile system, which they claim was looted from the 46th Regiment
Here we get a good view of the contents of the crate, two missile tubes, two batteries, one on the bottom left corner and the 2nd in the middle of the bottom of the picture, and most importantly the grip-stock, absent in so many examples of these captured weapons
The Syrian opposition member in the video demonstrates how the system is put together, and shows the completed system ready to fire
Here we not only have a demonstration of how to put together a SA-7 MANPADS for other members of the Syrian opposition who might have looted SA-7s elsewhere, but evidence that at least one pair of SA-7 MANPADS that they cliam to have looted from the 46th Regiment base, and with 10 crates in those stacks, minus one containing the SA-16 system, that could mean up to 18 complete SA-7 MANPADS.
The most important thing here is the presence of the grip-stock. Usually shipped separately they are often the key missing component from looted surface to air missile systems, but unlike the batteries they can be reused, so only one is needed to make all the missiles and batteries usable.
At the start of the interview I explain how tanks are being sent in with poor infantry support, making them vulnerable to RPG attacks, something that is demonstrated perfectly in this video film in the Hanano area of Aleppo in July
In this video we see the opposition fighters spotting a tank parked not too far from the corner they are hiding behind, followed by them waiting 5 minutes for another fighter with an RPG to show up, all the time seemingly unconcerned about being attacked by infantry.
After that we discuss weapons that have recently been spotted with the opposition, in particular multi-barreled rocket launchers, specifically Type-63's, which I wrote about at more length here. I should point out when I said they had a range of 8 milies I actually meant 8 kilometers. This example shows a slightly unusual example of a Type-63 that hasn't been mounted on a truck
As I say in the interview there's ample examples of weapons and ammunition being looted in great quantities, for example in this video we see Type-63 rocket launchers at a checkpoint recently captured by the opposition, and later boxes of ammunition being looted. In this following video we see another example of a huge amount of weapons and ammunition captured in an attack by opposition forces, including ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns and a partial SA-7 surface to air missile system
I also discussed the use of giant slingshots to launch pipebombs, and this video shows an unexploded bomb being harvested for explosives used in these pipebombs
And this videos demonstrates that giant slingshots aren't always the safest weapon in the opposition arsenal
This post details some of the other DIY weapons used by the opposition.
In recent weeks there's been a lot of talk of SA-7 anti-aircraft systems reaching the hands of the Free Syrian Army. As CJ Chivers of the New York Times has highlighted in the past previous videos of SA-7 missiles have appears to show incomplete SA-7 systems, with the system requiring a missile tube, a battery unit and a grip stock to function. In a more recent blog entry CJ Chivers highlights a photograph of what appears to be a complete SA-7 system, but he also highlights the difficulties in confirming the location and circumstances the photograph was taken in
More recently a video has emerged from around August 15th showing a massive amount of captured weapons and ammo, including at least one SA-7 system that appears to be complete
Following on from that a video has been posted today from Al Bukamal showing a member of the FSA holding what appears to be another complete SA-7 system
It's possible it may be related to this video posted from Al Bukamal that shows weapons and ammo captured by the FSA, and at one point shows part of an SA-7, but it's unclear whether or not the system is complete
It should of course be noted that possessing these weapons is not the same as being able to use them effectively against air targets, but it's interesting to note the increasing numbers of reports, photos, and videos of the FSA in possession of anti-aircraft missiles.
Some Syrians are more frank about the assistance the Libyans are providing. “They have heavier weapons than we do,” notes Firas Tamim, who has traveled in rebel-controlled areas to keep tabs on foreign fighters. “They brought these weapons to Syria, and they are being used on the front lines.” Among the arms Tamim has seen are Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, known as the SAM 7.
Update September 1st Thanks to the many people who sent me the following videos overnight from Al Bukamal in the far east of Syria near the Iraq border. The three videos shows weapons captured from a Syrian Army air defence base, and in this first video the tubes you see at the start of the video are claimed to be SA-7 missile
These next two videos show even more captured equipment, including stacks of 23mm ammo, ZU anti-aircraft gun barrels, RPG rounds, tanks shells, grenades, and huge amounts of other ammo. In the second video we see maybe one or two SA-7s, although it appears they are incomplete. However, with the amount of crates and piles of ammo and equipment it's hard to be sure if there's more parts of the SA-7 buried underneath them
This next video from the same area shows what appears to be a complete SA-7 system apparently captured from the air base. It's interesting to note that in all these cases the SA-7 is described as a "Cobra" missile, perhaps a local name for the SA-7 missile system
Again, thanks to the many people who sent me these videos and additional information relating to them.
Update September 8th I came across the following video from August 8th filmed in Al Bukamal which shows two men at the back of the frame, on either side, holding partial SA-7 missile systems. From the way they are holding the tubes it appears they are missing the trigger.
Update October 6th Thanks to @troublejee@bjoernen_dk and @damspleet for bringing this video and picture to my attention. The video filmed in East Ghouta, Damascus, shows a large number of ZU-23-2 AA guns, a number of prisoners, and a SA-7 missing the firing grip
This picture from Atareb, Aleppo, taken on September 24th, shows a complete SA-7 system
