Another excellent and informative post by Bjørn Holst Jespersen from his blog which can be accessed here.

This post is to give an impression of some of the weapons used on the city of Homs by the Syrian regime forces.  Please notice: I’m not an authority in this field and I continuously update and correct this post.

BRDM-2
(added may 13.)

Another weapon has been seen used by the Syrian regime in Homs. It’s a four wheel armored vehicle with a turret mounted heavy machine gun. The weapon is shown in a video that was linked-to in a tweet from an activist: 

‏ @HamaEcho: 

A frame from video on MyAbotarek’s YouTube channel showing the vehicle firing towards the camera.
In the video the vehicle is seen firing at least 15 rounds in the direction of the rather courageous camera man. To identify the vehicle I’ve stitched together two frames from the video in the image below, and as can be seen from the comparison it matches the Russian (or Soviet) made BRDM-2. It’s is an amphibious armoured patrol car, and its main weapon is a 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun.

Apparently its blue colour and the absence of caterpillars is meant to make it a police vehicle. But even if such vehicles have been used for police purposes in other countries keeping on the 14.5 mm machine gun in my view makes is a military weapon.  

Left: two frames from  video on MyAbotarek’s YouTube channel stitched together. Right: photo of a BRDM-2 in Polish service from Wikipedia.
According to Wikipedia, Syria is estimated to have some 950 of these vehicles, which made it a bit surprising to me that the model hasn’t been seen in use more often. One possible explanation that I’ve come up with is that the armour of the BRDM-2 is significantly thinner than that of the BMP-1: the thickness of the armour of the hull floor is 2-3 mm and the hull sides 7 mm (also according to Wikipedia) this - I believe - makes it quite vulnerable in urban warfare. And with an estimated number of BMP-1s for Syria of 2,100 (by 2005) there have been plenty of these until now. Therefore, in accordance with what’s indicated in the tweet, I see this use of the BRDM-2 as an attempt to make it appear as if the regime is complying with the Annan ceasefire agreement and not as the result of either a decreased level of tension or a lack of better armoured vehicles.

Update: May 16.
It seems the use of the BRDM-2 as a police vehicle is not a response to the Annan ceasefire “agreement”. The blog Military In The Middle East have a post showing images dating back to November 10. where the BRDM-2 is shown in this configuration.

Left frame: Under “Police” the Arabic lettering can be translated literally as “maintaining security and order forces”. Images and caption from Military In The Middle East.
*note: about the vulnerability of the vehicle: according to tweeter @markito0171 the BRDM-2 is not safe against 12.7 mm heavy machine guns.

- any corrections and additions to this section are welcome. You can leave information as a comment or use the contact links at the end of this post.

***LEAKED VIDEO*** ASSAD’S ARMY WAGE AN EPIC BATTLE AGAINST THE EVIL  … MOTORCYCLES. This is where all the usurped fuel in Syria is going to. To run Assad’s Russian made tanks over motorcycles - which for many people in many small towns across the country is their only means of transport.

So not only do they use tanks for killing innocent people, destroying homes, leveling buildings and shelling cities … but they use them to destroy people’s property as well.

Assad would rather use the 5,000 Russian tanks in his arsenal for the above purposes instead of sending them to go liberate the Golan Heights from Israel - a fight his cowardly forces would not dare engage in. They only specialize in killing unarmed and defenseless women and children.

Thanks @ArabSpringFF

CBC GOES BEHIND SYRIA’S REBEL LINES 

CBC’s Luc Chartrand gives an exclusive look at the difficulties facing untrained and ill-equipped Syrian rebels after they cross the border from Turkey.

Chartrand gained access to a small rebel camp hidden in the woods just two kilometres from Syrian army positions in Northern Syria.

The only strategic ambition of the small group of civilians-turned-soldiers is to keep the safe haven alive for volunteers who were refugees in Turkey and have returned to their country to fight, Chartrand reports.

The men know their fledgling fighting force is no match for the Syrian army, one of the strongest in the Middle East.

“To Canadians, Europeans and to Arab countries, we ask, please give us weapons,” the group’s commander said.

GUNS VS. CAMERA’S. HE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN CARRYING A GUN. A CAMERAMAN IS FIRED UPON BY ASSAD’S FORCES. Damascus Suburbs (Madaya): mar 27, 2012 - The first Assadist patrol passes, then one a second group passes a mercenary opens fire on the cameraman, knowing full well he holds nothing else other than a camera.

In Syria, holding a camera is more dangerous than holding a gun. At least with a gun you can fire back.

The Only Foreign Intervention in Syria - Russia in Syria

Thanks @ArabSpringFF

Arms deliveries to Syria surged almost 600 percent from 2007 to 2011 compared with the previous five years, a leading think tank said on Monday, with Russia supplying the bulk of the country’s weapons. 

The report underlined how Moscow has continued to supply Syria with firepower while the United States, European Union and others have imposed arms embargoes in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s bloody crackdown on unrest.

World powers have been unable to stop more than a year of bloodshed in Syria, a country that sits on the fault lines of several regional and ethnic conflicts. Recent army gains against rebel positions have not succeeded in quelling the violence and no negotiated settlement is in sight.

Click the title to read more…

In a nondescript apartment room in Turkey, just across the border from Syria, clouds of cigarette smoke drift toward the ceiling as Syrian opposition activists ponder how to keep people and supplies moving across the border.

Abu Jafaar is the alias of a Syrian smuggler who has been dodging Syrian army patrols for the past several months.

He says the smugglers are still getting back and forth, but the Syrian army has begun occupying entire villages to block their path. They have to be very careful when villagers rise up and protest, because that attracts the security forces.

Syrian civilians fleeing the army’s assault on rebel-held neighborhoods are also crossing the border, into Turkey and Lebanon, with tales of horrific damage and brutal killings.

***VERY GRAPHIC*** A MORTALLY WOUNDED FREE SYRIAN ARMY SOLDIER PRAYS AS HE STARTS TO DIE - TWO OTHER DEAD COMRADES IN THE OTHER ROOM. Daraa (Heraak): Mar 7, 2012 - These men made the most difficult choices of their lives when they threw down their weapons and defected from Assad’s murderous army. They refused to fire on their Syrian brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. So they ran. If caught they would face unbearable torture, their families would have been abducted, raped and tortured to death.

As shown in this video, the life-span of a Free Syrian Army soldier is quite short and brutal. Their iron wills are much firmer and stronger than their meager weapons in the face of Assad’s Russian backed-killing machine.

The first man lies on the floor, mortally wounded and reciting prayers. He knows he’s going to die. Both of his legs are blown off and his face blackened - the result of Assad’s shelling of their position. He has no family to comfort him - just a blanket to clutch as he slowly and painfully slips away. He gave his life to defend Syrians from Assad’s brutality.

In the next room we see other members of the same battalion, both dead with horrific injuries.

These men are the only hope Syria has against Assad as the rest of the world refuses to help fellow human-beings. This is why the Free Syrian Army represents Syria. 

Thanks @ahmed

Thanks @ahmed

From Danish architect Bjørn Holst Jespersen, he lists all the various weapons that Assad’s forces are using against innocent civilians in Homs, Syria.

240 mm mortar – either M240 or 2S4

The images below are screen-dumps from a video (@Brown_Moses must be credited for the head up).

They seems to be stems of large calibre mortar rounds. And by comparing to the size of the persons carrying the ordnance-parts they appear to be more than 200 mm.

Wikipedia has a list of heavy mortars. It is not long, and the only “active” mortar listed of a calibre of this size is the Russian made towed 240 mm mortar M240or the later self-propelled 2S4 (also 240 mm calibre).

Image and drawings of mortar round form British Ordnance Collectors Network.  image of  2S4 mortar is screen-dump from video on BitnikGr’schannel.

The shell (or grenade) is about 1.5 meter long and has a weight of 130 kg with 32 kg of explosives.

122 mm howitzer – 2A18  (D-30)

Image credit: U.S. Department of State

Shell fragment

Left image is from @ArabSpringFF. Drawing credit wiki.

The image above shows a fragment of a stabilizer-stem from an artillery shell. For comparison purposes, a drawing of an example of a 122 mm grenade is on the left on the same illustration. But please notice: the specific weapon it was fired has not been identified.

Bjørn comments: “I haven’t seen any certain photo-documentation of 122 mm grenade fragments found inside Homs.”

About artillery shells

Artillery shells are NOT just oversized rifle projectiles: as can be seen in the illustration above, they are complex objects launched by a cannon using an explosive charge. For easier understanding they could be called cannon-bombs.

Just to give readers a basic idea, a typical shell carries an amount of high explosives (maybe 25% of total weight) that is detonated at impact by a fuse-mechanism. When the shell explodes the steel case is blown apart – fragmented – into melting hot pieces of shrapnel. And the purpose of the shrapnel is to kill or wound persons, which it does. The blast itself will also kill or wound people, but within a smaller radius compared to the shrapnel. Primarily it will cause material damage were it hits.

BM-21 Grad

Image credit: U.S. Department of State

The image above is a screenshot from France 24, February 22/23. A group of Syrian opposition fighters/defenders in Homs showed some of the ordnance fragments they have collected.

Here’s Bjorn explaination of what A, B, C, D and E could be:

A: I’m quite sure this part is from a munition like the one in the image below. If so; then it’s a 73 mm grenade. Here is a link to a Pakistani version. I have also noticed that that the Russian made  BMP-1 (an infantry fighting vehicle) has a 73 mm gun. And since the BMP-1 have been in several videos I believe those are the ones that have been firing them.

B: stabilizer from a RPG-7 (Rocket Propelled Grenade, mainly used against tanks and other armoured vehicles).

C: don’t know.

D: don’t know.

E: this one has an unusual colour. It seems to me like it is some kind of tube with holes that have been cracked and partly flattened. The original diameter of this part can not have been more than about 5 cm. I don’t expect to be able to id this one, but I believe it is from the rear-end of either a mortar shell or a small missile/rocket.

Image credit: Pakistan Ordnance Factories web site

Cluster munitions?

Screenshots from this video on syriapioneer’s channel

Two frames stitched together showing a series of explosions said to be from the same shell or rocket. Although some believe that cluster bombs could have caused them, according to Holst Jespersen this video linked by @ArabSpringFFseems to show that the number of sub-munitions is lower and more separate than usual cluster bombs.

107 mm rockets and more

Photo tweeted by @ArabSpringFF on february 8. for identification.

Here’s Bjorn explaination of what A, B, C and D could be:

A: these are parts of a mortar stem, and judging from the images I’ve seen it’s a type of shell that is used very often in this conflict.In another photo, I believe I have been able to measure the size of the fins to be more than 100 mm and less than 130 mm. And to my knowledge this will make it a shell for a 120 mm mortar. That is the largest caliber among the mordern infatery mortars in Wikipedia’slist and it could look something like this.I have not been able to determine the specific shell-type but here is an example. 

B: according to this video (at about 1:02) this part is from a107 mm rocket.

C: these two parts seems to match a 107 mm rocket that have been identified by New York Times journalist C. J. Chivers in this blog post. And here is a video to get an idea of how it works. And another that I just couldn’t resist linking to.
Apart from flying in the general direction it is pointed, this weapon has no precision, which will make it an indiscriminate weapon in this context.

D: when comparing this to the one marked “C” there is no doubt this is of a larger calibre. To my knowledge there are only two to choose from (more or less): 122 mm and 152.4 mm. And since I believe the step up to the 152.4 mm to be too large I’m leaning towards this being from some kind of 122 mm calibre shell or rocket.

S-5 Rockets

The following video was sent to The Aviationist from another source. It shows what look like S-5K rockets. These rockets could come from the Mi-24 Hind helicopters seen overflying the area of the clashes, even if this is just speculation since no video of aerial attack has emerged so far .

ASSAD’S ARMY IS USING THE WORLD’S LARGEST AND HEAVIEST MORTAR - THE “TYULPAN” AGAINST BABA AMR, HOMS. This is a Russian demonstration video of the mortar rounds. The 130kg projectile-of-death can be fired from a distance of 9 to 20km away and be used for chemical and nuclear wepaons. The system was especially created to be used against forces that are well defended and “dug-in”. 

The Tyulpan is currently the heaviest mortar in deployment among any country.  The only known operators of the system according to Wikipedia are Russia and Syria. 

These mortars are being used against the most impoverished and densely populated neighborhood in Homs City - Baba Amr as proven here. The use of these weapons against a civilian population is barbaric and defies words.

Russia faces a growing international outcry over its arms sales to Syria but shows no sign of bowing to pressure and has even increased deliveries of arms that critics say are helping keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.

The biggest importer of arms to Syria, Russia sold Damascus nearly $1 billion worth of arms including missile systems last year, while shipments of hard-to-track Russian small weapons have risen since the uprising against Assad started, government defectors say.

Thanks @hadeelasayegh

Click the title to read more…

Reports coming out of Homs, which has been pounded for weeks now by Bashar al-Assad’s military, indicate one of the worst days of shelling against a Syrian city since the war started there.  

The Syria Observatory for Human Rights says that at least 16 civilians were killed in Homs’ Baba Amr neighborhood, three of them children. The BBC reports at least 30 dead in Homs, which has emerged as a stronghold for both armed and peaceful resistance to Mr. Assad’s continued rule. Among the dead in Baba Amr was Rami al-Sayyed, a young Syrian who’d devoted himself since July to filming fighting and protest marches. As Syriapioneer on Youtube, he uploaded 831 videos between then and earlier today.  

The next to last video on the account posted early today, too graphic to share here, was of Mr. Sayyed sitting beside a man in tracksuit who’d been mutilated beyond recognition. Sayyed was cut down by an infantrymen a few hours later, and the final video on the account is of his body being prepared for burial, uploaded by his brother. 

Click the title to read/watch more…

HIDDEN CAMERA CAPTURES THE ARRAY OF WEAPONS THAT ASSAD’S THUGS CARRY WITH THEM TO SUPPRESS PEACEFUL PROTESTERS. Damascus (Midan) Feb 17, 2012 - Watch carefully as this hidden camera shows the arsenal of weapons Assad;s forces use to massacre unarmed protesters. You can see many men with automatic machine guns, a man with an actual “uzi” sub-machin gun, a man with a pump-action shot gun and anything and everything in-between.

These are the weapons that Assad’s forces have ben given by Bashar Al Assad’s ally Russia to murder Syrians. Towards the end of the video you can also see Assad’s slaves arresting protesters to take them away for what will be the most merciless tortures that anyone has ever experienced.