Talk:Rebel Rocket/Missile Acquisition

The makeshift weapons of the Free Syria Army
http://www.newstimes.com/news/slideshow/The-makeshift-weapons-of-the-Free-Syria-Army-60102.php#photo-4448957
 * The makeshift weapons of the Free Syria Army (image slidewhow)
 * Rebel arms maker Abu al-Fadhel shows off a row of homemade weapons including a hand-grenade, a portable rocket-launcher, and various rockets with explosive warheads at a location in Aleppo province on October 17, 2012. Lightly-armed Syrian rebels who face the warplanes, artillery and tanks of President Bashar al-Assad's forces have turned to making their own weapons to fill major gaps in their armories. Photo: TAUSEEF MUSTAFA, AFP/Getty Images

Other entries in the slideshow: an armored vehicle, etc. Mostly or all Alleppo area, pounded by Scuds and such, as reported from maybe the same homes these homemade answers came from. --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:14, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

Rebel Missiles?
Moved from Talk:Aleppo University Attack, should be digested and sorted here, in time. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:27, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

(big list, all missile, surface-to-air mainly get talked about)
 * missile base seized Around October 12: widely cited. Ex: LA Times
 * Syrian rebels seized a government missile defense base near the northern city of Aleppo on Friday that had been the source of regular attacks on surrounding villages, activists said. ... But shortly after the rebels seized the base, government fighter jets attacked it, destroying the missiles, Abu Firas said. So they didn't get anything.

- Oct. 14 (?) video, showing the loot -Al-Nusra involvement: AP

- five days later... Rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime battled army troops inside an air base in the north today as government forces fought opposition strongholds near the seat of his government in Damascus.
 * Nov 8 video Syrian Rebels Take Control of Missiles (East Ghouta cited - near Damascus, right?)
 * Nov. 28 Syrian rebels turn looted missiles on Assad's aircraft
 * Dec 24 video: Rebels in fierce battle to seize missile base
 * Jan 10: Air Base fighting and a missile launch CBC:
 * In Brussels, a NATO official said the alliance on Wednesday detected the launch of an unguided, short-range ballistic missile in the country, which is embroiled in a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people in nearly 22 months.

- five days later...

Then there's the video included in the other video by "Nuts Flipped" - unverified, original not popping up. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:12, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

Heavy Rockets A Month Later
On about the one-month anniversary (Feb. 15), somewhere in Syria, rebels show themselves with captured missile/rockets of a large size, set on mobile launchers. They had made some base incursions and conquests around Aleppo at least in those days. The details of this still need sorted out. Is it possible the video is a month old and released later to launder it? Yes it's possible. How likely? I don't know. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:40, 19 February 2013 (UTC) SU2hZv5oV9U
 * This stuff looks very similar to what's seen in a video I found at Urs' and posted somewhere above (this page is long), uploaded Jan 23. Maybe it's even the same place. Mine says Aleppo. --CE (talk) 15:57, 19 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Yeah, pretty darn similar. Comparison is in order (later, if me). If it's the same score, we have at least one fake date (or two different "conquests?"), and the earlier was Jan. 23, 8 days after the University attack. And the theater would of course be relevant. They would need one of these trucks to do the job. I wonder if the locale can be found, maybe NW of Aleppo? --Caustic Logic (talk) 23:58, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Ff_9sS02_mY Related videos from same user, dated Jan. 22. Probably the same place, more clues for identifying it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H5_wMbu3xg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmEYvIM136Y. Possible others, some dated Jan. 23: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcO9khfxCns http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W58qwroLw8E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtCK4KE-Bws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nodacDtmLXM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paQLdnbBevQ --Caustic Logic (talk) 00:26, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

I've taken a look at the two main videos and randomly v=UtCK4KE-Bws as well. That's unrelated, apparently. Firing a mortar on city streets. On the rocket collections, they're clearly different incidents on different days with different sunlight. They could be the same place. The later posting is gray and indistinct, the earlier one has clear sun to set directions with. Both show signs of being more like junkyards than active materiel storage. The trucks look very old model and disused, some with flat/deflated tires. The missiles still being on some of them looks odd in that context. The latter video shows more rockets laid out, more trucks with empty mounts. The earlier video is of more interest from its no-later-than date. But I'll look at the later one first. Buildings are burning in one direction (0:18-0:21). Numerous earthen ridges. I looked at a base just west of Al-Lairamoun ("Air defense base") and it has similar ridges, but doubled. Key feature (0:08-0:12) is how they run end-to-end here, with a dirt road in between. I don't see any such thing in that area. Not that it's supposed to fit - it has immobile SAM batteries. I also checked a cluster of army base areas just southwest of Aleppo (one is "Munitions Storage"). I used June 5 GE imagery. Bunker-related storage, no trucks around, no comparable mounds. The one a bit north of there has some potential as a match, but I don't think so. No matches yet. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:56, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Is this the same video host we see in the February video? If so, a different locale is suggested-near Daraa. If the climate seems right for there - I'm not sure. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Wherever it is, here's the scene. Type of rockets could be guessed. I don't know. Next, some visuals to get a feel for the scene for anyone hunting for matches. Directions just aren't clear to me but it's hilly country, with mountains in on direction and lower land another way. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:27, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

The missiles are SA-3 Goa (S-125 Neva/Pechora). Most likely retired. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 03:18, 24 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Petri! I can only confirm that's a good visual match, if missing the square back fins. Like this, I doubt they would fly well, if they haven't been totally disabled. All looks old. Would they show us the stashes of useable stuff, or hide those? Do they have another source they'd like to conceal? So far, they'd better conceal all kinds of ownership of anything like the "Scuds" now hammering Aleppo. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:23, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

Here is a fresh video of some abandoned SA-3 missile base. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 03:13, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Syria: FSA Mercenaries Inside Of Syrian Air Defense Brigade 49 Base In Alma, Daraa 4/3/13

Syrian Jihadists Launch Giant Missile
This video was posted on YouTube on Mar 25, 2013 by tshoebat (Walid Shoebat) of shoebat.com Adam says he has seen the video before, posted as SAA. Others say there should be more Allahu Akbar for this to be FSA.

I do not think these are the Syrian Army. The group is too irregular and undisciplined. What footwear do the SAA use. These men are all using snickers with their uniforms. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 08:55, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Hm, good point with the sneakers (snickers is a candy bar ;) ). SAA would usually wear boots, but so sometimes do defectors. Or sneakers/trainers, or sandals. In times of war, discipline can break down too (recall "Gaddafi's" dead hippie fighter of Aug. 2011). Footwear would go first. The video has been posted as an SAA firing, as opposed to rebel one. But that was by a rebel channel. Not the original posting but one I re-found: Scud ballistic missile being launched Assad forces Syrian army An-Nasiriya Damascus Syria, by armyreco. Description:
 * A short-range ballistic missile Scud was fired inside Syria on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, (Read more at http://www.ArmyRecognition.com/index.... ) following similar launches last week, a NATO official said on Thursday. The official condemned as "reckless" the missile launches, which U.S. officials called an escalation of the 21-month-old Syrian civil war when their use was first spotted last month. (Video from Internet)

Same or very similar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew-n-C33PbA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYcv4Qb4sUs --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:11, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

And while we're at it, here is a Jan. 5 video of another alleged regime Scud launch, against Douma, not the north. Syria - Two Scud Missiles Launched By The Syrian Army on Douma The people launching seem totally excited, shouting Allahu something, as if this is the first time they've been able to do this. So I suspect the first Scud-ish launch by this rebel group was only at this time. See my comment there, or here just in case:
 * The people launching this sound super-excited that they finally have Scud-type missiles. Why would Syrian army guys act that way?
 * Shit. Rebels got Scuds? Since January at the latest? Shit... time to review some shit that's gone down over the last few months.
 * Fuck these fakers. I wish there was a hell so they could be rammed down its throat..

Sorry, it was the comment context pushing me there. Another comment there: "It's not a SCUD, it's Tochka-U (SS-21 Scarab A)." --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:11, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Ooh, this too might be worth a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRxfrpeAkw Syria - how Assad-opponents manipulate and fake news], Jan. 16 fake video, from last year, actual army, it seems. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:11, 29 March 2013 (UTC)