Syria's Sarin Attacks - Grasping At 140mm Straws (And Why Size Matters)

Since the UN report into the sarin attacks on August 21st linked two munitions to the attack, there's been various claims made about who could have been responsible.  The New York Times summarises a number of key pieces of information that points towards the Syrian military being responsible here, and for my own part, I've stated I've never seen either of the munitions used, the M14 140mm artillery rocket, and the munition I named the UMLACA, in the hands of the Syrian opposition.

In response to that statement a number of people and organisations have claimed that the opposition actually does have 140mm rockets.  One example is from this piece from Press TV, 5 lies invented to spin UN report on Syria

Chemical weapons were delivered with munitions not used by rebels: This claim includes referencing "Syria watcher" Eliot Higgins also known as "Brown Moses," a UK-based armchair observer of the Syrian crisis who has been documenting weapons used throughout the conflict on his blog.
While Higgins explains these particularly larger diameter rockets (140mm and 330mm) have not been seen (by him) in the hands of terrorists operating within and along Syria's borders, older posts of his show rockets similar in construction and operation, but smaller, most certainly in the hands of the militants. 

Despite what the author may have been told in the past, size does matter, especially when it comes to IDing munitions.  He no doubts refers to the sort of videos now being used to prove the opposition have 140mm artillery rockets, and here's a couple of the examples I've been sent

These, and similar videos, have been cited by a number of people as evidence that the opposition could have launched 140mm rockets.  The problem with this theory is, neither of these are the types of launchers that could fire 140mm rockets.  The top video shows the Type-63 multiple rocket launcher, which launches 107mm rockets, and the bottom video shows the Croatian RAK-12 multiple rocket launcher, which fires 128mm rockets.  There's also been a number of DIY rocket launchers shown in opposition videos, but I've never seen evidence of 140mm rockets fired from those either.  One thing that would stand out right way about 140mm rockets is the number of nozzles on the rear of the rocket.  Unlike many other types of rockets, they have 10 nozzles, so they are pretty easy to spot.  Evidence may exist, and if it does I'd love to see it, but I've yet to see any.

So, to say the presence of 107mm and 128mm rockets in the opposition's arsenal means they also have 140mm rockets is deeply flawed logic.  It's also important to note that the BM-14 launcher looks quite different from the above launchers.  The main difference is four more barrels

Something that's pretty easy to spot.

I'd also highly recommend watching the following video, published before the report, discussing the munitions used, in particular the M14 140mm artillery rocket.

In particular I recommend watching the section on the "179" marking found on the remains in Damascus, from 6:18 onwards, which details it's origin in the former Soviet Union.  More details of the origin of the munitions in Siberia can be found here.

More posted on the subject of the August 21st attacks can be found here, and other posts on chemical weapons and Syria, including extremely informative interviews with chemical weapon specialists, can be found here.

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

A Small Delivery Of Arms To Damascus

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.

Many thanks to Olly Lambert, whose donations to the Brown Moses Blog fundraiser made this post possible.

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

Evidence Of Iranian Arms Provided To Syria In The Past 18 Months

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

Chinese 107mm Rocket (Source)

Chinese 107mm Rocket (Source)

Iranian 107mm Rocket (Source)

Iranian 107mm Rocket (Source)

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.

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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

Improving Syrian Oppositon Armaments Demonstrated During The Taftanaz Airbase Attack

Early this morning Syrian opposition fighters began a co-ordinated assault on Taftanaz air base in the Idlib Governorate, used as a base for a significant number of Syrian Air Force helicopters operating in the surrounding area.  Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reported on the fighting

One of the interesting aspects of the operation was the use of a variety of much heavier weapons than we've generally seen used in the conflict so far.  To start with we have videos of the common ZU-23-2 auto-cannons and KPV heavy machine guns being used as anti-aircraft weapons

Not so unusual, nor is this mortar being used to attack the air base

But what we also see are at least one Type-63 multiple rocket launcher being deployed, firing a volley of five 107mm rockets with a range of up to 8km in this video

We also see the increasingly common DIY rockets being fired at the airport

But what's very interesting is the use at least one T-55 tank in the operation

So far in the conflict we've only seen a handful of occasions where tanks and other armoured vehicles have been used in combat, no doubt because of the risk of using them without air cover, so it's interesting to see a T-55 being used in an attack where the Syrian Air Force wouldn't have that far to travel to find an attacking tank.  Maybe this suggests the opposition are becoming more confident in using anti-aircraft weapons to defend their more vulnerable weapons.
 
In conclusion we see that the following weapons were used in the attack:

• ZU-23-2 auto-cannon
• KPV heavy machine gun
• Type-63 multiple rocket launcher
• T-55 tank
• DIY rockets
• Mortars

Quite a variety of weapons, and seems to demonstrate how the opposition are becoming increasingly well armed as the conflict continues. 

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

NPR Interview - Variety Of Weapons Increases In Syrian Conflict - Additional Information

This morning NPR broadcast an interview I took part in discussing the weapons being used in Syria, and in this post I hope to expand on some of the points discussed.

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

You can read more about the weapons used by the opposition in my article for Foreign Policy, Syria's DIY Revolt, and more about SA-7s in CJ Chivers article Heat-Seeking Missiles in Syria: The SA-7 in Action with Rebels.

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.

Finally we went over the escalation in the air war, a topic recently examined by the Institute for the Study of War in their recent overview of the Syrian Air Force.  I examine the different weapons being used in Syria in a piece written shortly before the upsurge in cluster bomb use, The Weapons Of The Syrian Air Force, and look at the use of cluster bombs in Cluster Bomb Usage Rises Significantly Across Syria.

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

The Syrian Opposition's Latest Missiles and Rockets

In the last couple of weeks there's been much written about the Syrian military's latest escalation, the use of cluster bombs, but at the same time the Syrian armed opposition* appears to have been having an escalation of their own.  Aside from increased sightings and the apparent use of SA-7 surface to air missiles by the armed opposition, as reported by CJ Chivers in the New York Times At War Blog, there's also been a sudden increase in videos showing two other kinds of weapons being used.

Type 63 multiple rocket launcher

In recent weeks a number of videos have been posted from locations across Syria, including Hama, Rastan, Idlib, and Lattakia, showing truck mounted Type 63 multiple rocket launchers being used by the armed opposition. Type 63s are generally towed rocket launcher, firing 107mm rockets, manufactured in China, but licensed for manufacture in a number of other countries, including Iran and Turkey.  With a range of 8km it would be one of the longest range weapons in the armed opposition's armoury, and the below video from 7:20 shows an example of the launchers being captured by the armed opposition

9K115-2 Metis-M

The 9K115-2 Metis-M (NATO reporting name AT-13 Saxhorn-2) is a Russian anti-tank missile system, with a 2km and SACLOS wire guided targeting system.  While the system has been spotted on very rare occasion before in Syria, notably an air base attack in March 2012, it appears in the last two weeks there's been a sudden increase in videos showing the systems, for example this video and this video from Idlib, and the below example from Hama, showing the missile being fired, and apparently hitting it's target

The Syrian Army's vehicle's wouldn't stand much of a chance against these system, especially with their range compared to the RPG rockets they are used to going up against, so if their use becomes widespread it seems likely the Syrian Army will face a great number of tank loses.

* Personally I prefer the term Syrian armed opposition as it covers all armed groups, and I feel the term "FSA" is now rather inaccurate as some armed groups in Syria aren't part of the actual Free Syrian Army, and "rebels" wouldn't accurately reflect the presence of foreign fighters, many of which are Jihadists, in Syria.

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