HJ-8 ATGM in Syria

kwaigonegin

kwaigonegin

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HARD EVIDENCE THAT OBAMA HAS STARTED ARMING SYRIAN REBELS?
Jack Mulcaire
April 7, 2014 · in Hasty Ambush

Fresh video from the battlefields of southern Idlib province show the rebels using US-made BGM-71 TOW missiles. This weapon has never been observed in rebel use before. Coming on the heels of much speculation that the Obama administration has finally made the decision to aid the Syrian opposition with weapons, the arrival of the TOW missile in Syria is certainly suggestive. Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford recently stated that he expected a move by the Administration to change the military balance in Syria.

The TOW missiles in question are being used by Harakat Hazam, a Free Syrian Army group that is mostly composed of survivors from the now-defunct Kataeb Farouq FSA group, and they are connected to former FSA Supreme Military Council chief General Salim Idris. Both of these facts mark them as being distinctly less jihadist than the powerful Islamic Front, and General Idris has been the most active solicitor of American aid for the FSA. All of these things indicate that Harakat Hazam would be an attractive option if the Obama Administration was searching for “good rebels” to provide with weapons. Interestingly, Harakat Hazam also began appearing with MANPADs recently. The group has participated in a successful rebel offensive in the south of the contested Idlib province, which has mostly removed a siege placed on the strategic town of Khan Sheikhoun by Assad forces and seized control of a section of the critical Damascus-Aleppo highway.

It remains to be seen whether the US is directly providing weapons or merely allowing weapons from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to flow unimpeded of US pressure on the Jordanian and Turkish governments. If, during his recent visit, President Obama did successfully complete some sort of a deal with the Saudis over what rebel factions will receive the new weapons, this will undoubtedly become more clear as more videos of hardware on the battlefield make their way to Youtube.

Jack Mulcaire is a contributor to War on the Rocks. During the 2011 Libyan Civil War, he helped lead a group of international volunteers that aided and consulted with local rebel councils and units.
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not sure what to make of this but also not surprising. I know the Saudis and oher Gulf states have put a lot of pressure on Obama to armed the Syrian rebels. Looks like the HJ-8 is not the only toy in the field.
 
plawolf

plawolf

Lieutenant General
The HJ8 has never been the only toy in the field. There have been plenty of Russian ATGMs of various types employed and also some Europeab types like Milan IIRC.

To be honest, I expect those TOWs to have come from US allies like Turkey or some Gulf States rather than directly from the US.
 
TerraN_EmpirE

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Don't the Iranians have TOW clones to? Just to point out a alternative. Still TOW is fairly common its been in operation for decades.
 
asif iqbal

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
TerraN_EmpirE said:
Don't the Iranians have TOW clones to? Just to point out a alternative. Still TOW is fairly common its been in operation for decades.
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Yeah but they are on Assads side

But Assad has lots and lots of Russian built Kornet ATGM stockpiles of them they had them delivered few years back during and after the 2006 Hezbollah war
 
Broccoli

Broccoli

Senior Member
Weird TOW failure in Syria. Missile simply explodes in air short after it was fired... people have taken screenshots and it's not top-attack variant so firing system malfunction seems to be out of question. I guess it could be stray bullet but that's probably quite far fetched.
[video=youtube;qTMlL_BlURE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTMlL_BlURE[/video]
 
TerraN_EmpirE

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
All missiles have failures
[video=youtube_share;1CTadlvmYig]http://youtu.be/1CTadlvmYig[/video]
Here is another Tow class missile Gone bad.
IT could be anything, faulty wiring, Improper loading, a fracture in the Rocket line that causes the rocket engine to explode, Allah just not being in the mood.
 
asif iqbal

asif iqbal

Lieutenant General
Broccoli said:
Weird TOW failure in Syria. Missile simply explodes in air short after it was fired... people have taken screenshots and it's not top-attack variant so firing system malfunction seems to be out of question. I guess it could be stray bullet but that's probably quite far fetched.
[video=youtube;qTMlL_BlURE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTMlL_BlURE[/video]
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They were hitting a jeep with a ATGM they must have plenty to go around!

Sometimes once the full range of the missile is reached it detonates I don't know how far that missile traveled but it could be that it just detonated once it ran out of fuel

RPG rounds do the same once they reach like 800-900 metres they just explode and it's been known that the detonation has knocked out the target if the operator of the RPG is well skilled and knows the distance accurately
 
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