#Syria

The Syrian rebels continue to use strange and dangerous (to themselves) weapons and tactics. In the video below at about 00:41 you can see two Syrian rebels shooting DIY grenades with a lit fuse from a semi-automatic shotgun. The shotgun is likely to be a Turkish sporting shotgun.

Vice have produced a short film on the rebel snipers operating in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. I couldn’t help but shudder when they showed a 16 year old boy trying to snipe at a long distance with an SKS in the middle of such a heavily populated city. As much as I love the SKS, I would not want to use it in a situation where my target was further away than 100 yards.

The hand grenade catapults being used by Syrian rebels are fascinating and apparently not a new phenomenon. Defence & Freedom blog has written about the history of hand grenade catapults.

The Atlantic has a photo essay showing the DIY weapons in used by Syrian rebels. The grenade launcher pictured above is a converted Baikal shotgun. The Baikal is a cheap, but well built, single shot. I own one and I can tell you they are very slow to reload and they have next to no military value. Turning them into grenade launchers is not a bad idea in a time of crisis. On the other hand shooting homemade grenades with an old fashioned lit fuse seems like it might to do more damage to the user than his enemies. I am not sure which is more dangerous, launching a grenade from a shotgun or a giant slingshot. Both concepts make me shudder!

Syrian rebels have gotten their hands on the large Russian OSV-96 12.7x108mm anti-material rifle and have wasted no time in parading the gun in front of cameras.

CJ Chivers reports that the Syrian government has been distributing explosive rigged ammunition to rebel fighters …

Much like the rebels did in Libya, the Syrian rebels are turning workshops into improvised weapon factories. Al Jazeera reports …

In the video embedded below, a Syrian rebel explains how to operate two DIY weapons. The pistol looks like it may once have been a flare gun. The rifle looks to be one of the most complex single shot guns I have ever seen, I think the optics were taken from binoculars.

An StG 44 would fetch a lot of money in the collectors market, yet are most often found in the hands of dirt poor militiamen ( and women) in Africa and the Middle East. One was recently photographed in the hands of a Syrian rebel.

In the video below, a Syrian rebel shows off his customised Beretta Model 38. The stock has been converted to a pistol grip and the metalwork has been chromed. That is one nice looking gun, although I doubt the owner could hit the side of a barn at 20 yards when firing on full auto with a shoulder stock.

One or more supporters of the Free Syrian Army are creating high definition Arabic language gun training videos and putting them on YouTube. They are intended to help train rebel recruits in maintaining firearms such as the FN FAL, which has been imported by the Syrian rebels.

This photo was posted on what I am told is the Syrian Revolution facebook page. The machine gun pictured is the 12.7×108mm DShK.

The Telegraph published this fascinating photo. It shows two members of the Syrian anti-goverment group known as the Free Syrian Army. The rebel in the foreground appears to be armed with an Israeli FN FAL with a low-zoom tactical-style scope mounted atop.