Video has surfaced that appears to show antitank guided missiles in the hands of a rebel faction operating in southern Syria, the latest indication that sophisticated U.S. weaponry is making its way to antigovernment fighters in Syria.
The video, posted April 13 on YouTube, seems to depict a fighter from a group called the Omari Brigades firing a BGM-71 TOW missile at what appears to be a bunkered Syrian army tank.
Although other videos circulating on the Internet have shown rebel groups in northern Syria firing TOW missiles, this marks the first time the U.S.-made weapon has appeared publicly in the arsenal of insurgents in southern Syria, a key front close to the Jordanian border.
More @ LA Times
From that LA Times article: "The Pentagon last year approved a $1-billion sale of 15,000 TOW missiles to Saudi Arabia, a major backer of the Syrian opposition."
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm....let me think - could those actually be American-made missiles in Syria??? ]
I would certainly bet that they are.
DeleteThe back blast off that round was tiny! TOW back blast is MUCH bigger. It could have been a rapier or a javelin but they cost a lot of $$$$. IMO that was an old Russian SAGGER OTWGM I don't know of 3 reporters that would know the difference between a TOW and the SAGGER--and the gunner missed , hitting the dirt way short and right of target ----Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks, so it didn't veer up and hit it at the end?
DeleteNah.. Looked to me to have smacked the berm about 10 short and 5 right, making a big brown dirt cloud with no "brew up". Then a film edit as the "tank" (big boxy "turret" like an old ZSU-23) backs away leaving an empty black hole in the last frame. TOW and SAGGER both have large shape charge warheads. A direct hit would make a hell of a fireball.---Ray
DeleteThanks and you certainly know far more than me. :)
DeleteAnything American will have made its way right through Bengazi, hell that's probably where everything is stored.........
ReplyDelete