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Syrian Forces’ Improvised Arms: Desperate Measures, or Deliberate Aid?
By C. J. CHIVERS
Bjorn Holst Jespern
Paired images showing a standard 107-millimeter rocket and a 107-millimeter rocket to which a makeshift warhead has been affixed, a weapon known as an improvised rocket assisted munition, or IRAM.
As the war in Syria escalated this year, fighters opposed to President Bashar al-Assad reached for arms from many sources, including weapons manufactured by their own hands: Molotov cocktails, roadside bombs and locally made mortars and rockets. These are the familiar tools of modern insurgencies — weapons of choice or necessity for fighters who begin conflicts with limited means.
But a more surprising phenomenon is also present on Syria’s battlefields: pro-government forces are using makeshift weapons, too.
The development of improvised ordnance for both the Syrian military and loyalist militias, or shabiha, is at this point beyond dispute. Since this summer, evidence has surfaced showing the remains of so-called “barrel bombs,” which have been dropped from government aircraft, and the presence of a particular type of improvised rocket that has a history of use against American forces in Iraq. Both have been dropped or fired repeatedly into rebel-controlled territory. And both summon intriguing questions, for which answers remain elusive.
According to conventional wisdom, pro-government forces should be well equipped by weapons from Russia and China and, to a lesser extent, Iran. But for some reason they have resorted to crafting weapons to complement, or perhaps even replace, their standard arms. We are not sure why, though theories abound.
For today’s purposes, At War will examine the weapons themselves briefly, with an emphasis on the improvised rockets after passing by the barrel bombs, which have been covered already by the Brown Moses blog. As we do, we’ll explore several of the issues raised, including the potential link between loyalist improvised rockets and Iran, via technology previously used by Kataib Hezbollah, a Shiite, or Shia, fighting group in Iraq that is believed to be supported by Iran and has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States. This could be read – though not conclusively — as a hint of a deepening sectarian war.
Barrel Bombs
Read more: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/syrian-forces-improvised-arms-desperate-measures-or-deliberate-aid/
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