#Syria

In a recent broadcast by a channel called France 24, French reporters in Syria unexpectedly came across a coalition special operations unit, coordinating air strikes and working with Kurdish YPG units in the fight against Daesh in Shaddadi (northern Syria). Somewhat untypical of these types of units in going this long without realizing that a video crew was at work directly behind them. But we saw this in the early parts of the invasion of Afghanistan with a film crew capturing SAS operators in a firefigh t.

The terrorist organization Daesh has released another disgusting propaganda video, this time about their long range shooters. I refuse to call them snipers because that would entail that they are actually professionals and have been formally trained. Luckily for us, the good guys, these terrorists don’t seem to fully comprehend the fundamentals of marksmanship or camouflage. The majority of the hits displayed during the video do not seem to have incapacitated their targets, and most of these look to be at at least 400 meters and in, certainly not precision shooting. Unluckily for us, it appears that they possess some night vision capabilities because one of the clips shows the camera with an IR filter, and the shooter must also have an IR capable scope if he were shooting in low light. Also some of the scopes displayed show IR scopes or image intensifiers. All the equipment appears to be captured or bought off the black market in some fashion as well. I would not recommend watching the video, unless you want to make your blood boil. This style of video propaganda, filming the actual hits of a shooter from his hide, isn’t new at all. During the Iraq campaign, there was an Iraqi insurgent sniper named Juba, who produced similar videos. However, it does show the long range rifle capability of our enemies, which I know we aren’t a political site, but I’m sure every reader on here can agree that a terrorist organization such as Daesh, are evil, and are our enemies. Another good point is that the footage is coming from a select few of their shooters, because you notice the same guys and the same weapons throughout the video. This is good because it means they probably have a very limited long range capability in their combat forces.

Armament Research Services has a post on their blog, The Hoplite, that is showing a recent video released by the terrorist group Daesh, in which they display the equipment from a fallen Russian Special Operations advisor to the Syrian Army. As far as knowing what kind of equipment the various SF groups in the world are using, it can be difficult to see some of this because of their secretive nature. However in this case, we looking at some interesting trends and equipment that might be prevalent among Russia’s elite. The rifle is a 5.45x39mm AK74M, that has been heavily accessorized, from the CAA forend, to the AR telescoping (and what appears to be folding) stock, to the pistol grip, suppressor, IWT 640 ‘Haron’ thermal weapon sight with what appears to be an image magnifier, but ARES says it is probably a red dot sight. However, if it were a red dot sight, it would have adjustment knobs or screws, and it doesn’t appear to have any.

Russian and Arabic language news sites are reporting that the Russian MTs-116M sniper rifle has been seen in use with Syrian Arab Army forces, specifically female fighters. The rifles, based on the successful MTs-116 target/hunting rifle, are equipped with 5- or 10-shot detachable box magazines, similar in pattern to those used in the famous Dragunov SVD designated marksman rifles. Accordingly, the sniper rifles are chambered for the 7.62x54mmR Russian cartridge, the oldest military small arms cartridge in the world that has been continuously in service with its parent country.

There’s been a lot of interesting firearms being spotted in Syria during the recent conflict over there. From vintage WWII weapons, Bubba’d Mosin Nagants to a remote controlled Sturmgewehr 44. Here’s another interesting rifle, a homemade 23mm “sniper” rifle that they appear to be using to punch holes into enemy positions. At least they’re using hearing protection.

So you’ve just bought a MAS 36, and you’ve heard a lot about how it was too little, too late, how it shoots a weird, hard-to-find caliber, has no safety, and you can’t adjust the sight for windage. On the other hand, you like that the action is short and compact, and the rifle is pretty short and light for a military gun. Where to from here?

The use of antiques in combat is something that often is overlooked, as many find greater interest in more modern weapons. However, though these older weapons are as obsolete as they are antique, they are still relevant articles of war, and still certainly lethal. Silent YouTuber jmantime covers the use of some World War II weapons in the ongoing Syrian Civil War:

An article that came out on Fox News has a picture of an odd SVD contraption captured by the Peshmerga in action against Daesh in northern Syria. The article had this to say-

The video embedded below is a documentary about the Kurdish PPK troops fighting the ISIS forces which had surrounded Mount Sinjar in late 2014. Before the siege, now know as the Sinjar Massacre, was broken, ISIS had managed to kill 5,000 Yazidi civilians. Its interesting to see what weapons the Kurdish militias are using. I even spotted a H&K G36 (pictured above).

UPDATE: I was sure I had seen that gun before … I must have inspected ~50 different guns, but for some reason I forgot to look up Czech guns, so now I look like an idiot who cannot identify a relatively popular 20th century subgun. The gun is a Czech CZ Model 25 (Sa vz. 23). Epic fail. Will leave this post up anyway.

Al Jazeera  tweeted a photo of an interesting mounted weapon built by a Syrian rebel. This single shot rifle (or cannon if its chambered in a small caliber cannon round) has a floating barrel action that recoils against a spring attached to a very heavy tripod weighed down by concrete blocks. It looks like it was originally supposed to be fired from the shoulder, note the original pistol grip and trigger, but now is fired using a cable, possibly a bicycle brake, that connects its “handle bars” at the rear to the original trigger.  he muzzle brake looks like it is much to big. It is at least twice as large as the muzzle brake on the Anzio Ironworks 20mm rifle. The loading/ejection port looks slightly larger than the Anzio.

Of all the things I never thought I would write in the same sentence, “Remote Control” and “Sturmgewehr 44” must be at the top of the list. The above photo shows a Syrian rebel controlling a Sturmgewehr 44 with a wired joystick. A cheap CMOS video camera with a Component video output is mounted behind the scope (at the correct distance to account for eye relief) and is wired into a LCD screen.

There is an interesting video on LiveLeak (embedded below) showing Kurdish snipers in North Syria clearing out an al-Qaeda-linked rebel group from a Kurdish village. The four snipers are using identical .50 caliber rifles that are either completely hand made or at least partially hand made.

A reader sent in these photos allegedly taken of a Syrian arms bazaar in the rebel controlled city of  Deir ez-Zor. The photos show a 12 year old boy, with a 1911 pistol in a shoulder holster that is to big for him, manning a stall selling loose 7.62x39mm ammunition, gun cleaning supplies, a RPG launcher  SA7 anti-air missile/launcher, a variety of machine guns and a Mosin bolt action rifle.

A reader sent us a link to the above photo that shows a Syrian rebel sniper using a Steyr Mannlicher Classic rifle. I am not sure what these sell for new in Europe, but in the USA they costs $2,200+. The scope is a letdown. It looks to be a cheap illuminated NcStar scope with a large 50mm objective lens, these retail for about $80.