When Bashar Assad attacks his own people with cluster munitions, enterprising Syrian rebels don’t just run for cover. They harvest unexploded cluster bombs for parts they can use in homemade rockets to turn back on regime forces. Do not try this at home.
In the video above, shot by the Syrian rebel al-Farouq Battalions, the fuses from cluster bombs get recycled in makeshift weapons foundries for use inside Qassam-style short-range rockets. Taking a page from Hamas in Gaza, the Syrian rebels are now manufacturing their own rockets — much as they have other weaponry — even though gulf Arab states keep a weapons pipeline flowing.
The unexploded cluster bomb here looks to be a Russian AO-1 SCH, according to Steve Priestley, a weapons expert with Sterling Global Operations, a Tennessee-based security company, who agreed to check out the video for Danger Room. A rebel digs up the bomb and disarms it by unscrewing the fuse — which isn’t the greatest idea. The bomb is only supposed to explode when it slams nose-first into something solid, but, Priestley says via e-mail, “I would not be surprised if he’s presently enjoying the benefits of martyrdom … holding impact fuses nose-down, etc., what could possibly go wrong?”
Back at the foundry, the intact fuse has its benefits. The rebels remove the tail fin from the cluster bomb, leaving the main charge, and then attach a homemade rocket motor. (Priestley thinks the motor shows “quite good design/build.”) The rebel in the shot replaces the fuse. “And the rocket is good to go,” Priestley observes. Skip forward to the 6:24 mark, and you’ll hear some Transformers-sounding sound effects as the rebel group shows the finished product getting fired off.
Hamas has been turning captured ordnance into a rocket arsenal for years. Priestley says the Syrian version is, “in terms of quality, probably equal.” The adapter plate used in the videoed demonstration fits neatly between the warhead and the rocket motor and “seems to be well made.” These rockets seem to be smaller than the ones Hamas uses, but Hamas needs to send its rockets across farther distances than the ranges at which Syrian rebels typically fire at Assad’s forces. Another difference: Hamas doesn’t always harvest its warheads, but when it does, it typically takes the main fill from shells or mortars that packs it into a warhead “with ball bearings, scrap metal, etc.” That doesn’t appear to have happened in this video.
The quality of the rockets makes Priestley think the Syrian rebels may know what they’re doing — up to a point. “The way he is handling the rockets and munitions is scary,” he says. The Brown Moses Blog, which tracks the Syrian civil war in depth, has raised similar concerns: Rebels tend to film themselves handling unexploded cluster bombs like they’re not at risk of an unexpected detonation. Bad assumption.
Assad probably isn’t done firing cluster bombs on Syrian cities that the rebels have captured. But he may have something even more deadly in store: As Danger Room reported on Monday, U.S. officials fear that Assad has gotten his chemical weapons ready to fire. President Obama and his chief surrogates have warned Assad against any chemical weapons usage, a warning reiterated Thursday by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. No one wants to see the Syrian rebels coming across chemical ordnance, in any capacity.
Watch Syrian Rebels Make Rockets Out of Assad's Cluster Bombs
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Watch Syrian Rebels Make Rockets Out of Assad's Cluster Bombs
