IBTimes: Syrian sniper: US TOW missiles transform CIA-backed Syria rebels into ace marksmen in the fight against Assad
Syrian rebels wielding US-made anti-tank missiles have become YouTube war heroes after a surge in successful attacks on forces loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Use of the BGM-71 TOW missiles – which cost $50,000 a piece – is up over 850% in October with the American-made weapons responsible for the destruction of scores of Syrian army tanks. Charles Lister, a Syrian expert at the Brookings Institute, said there had been 82 uses of the missiles as of 20 October up from 13 in September.
Dozens of videos of Free Syrian Army and other rebel TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) snipers have appeared on YouTube with many receiving hundreds of thousands of views and hero status. In one video, rebels are seen calmly arming the huge rocket launcher and firing it from a bombed-out building at a Syrian army tank, which is then seen in flames.
WNU Editor: It would not surprise me if these operators, and the groups that supplied them with TOW missiles, are on the the top of the list for Russian - Syrian military forces to find and destroy.
American made. Wonder whose supplying them?
ReplyDeleteThe cost of these at $50,000 each they seem to be wasting them. At 50k a Tow knocking out a multi million dollar tank is a good deal, but knocking out a bunker or a truck is just a waste. There are a number of other weapon systems they could be using, I don't know who are the bigger morons, the Rebels shooting at trucks or the west for giving them these expensive systems. One also has to wonder when they will turn this stuff on our people.
ReplyDeleteTWN I always wondered how much you and I have to pay for this radical islamists to get $50.000 thousand dollars toy's.
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DeleteTWN,
DeleteIt's not a bad deal if they are using them tp take out trucks etc. carrying ammunition, rations and other supplies. They are targeting bulldozers too because they have been used by the Army to quickly fortify areas recently taken.
When they hit these targets it is a display of awareness of the critical nature of logistics in military operations. They are displaying a level of sophistication that I guarantee is disconcerting to the SAA.
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DeleteDoesnt fost you anything these would be surplus un8ts just sitting in storage waiting for their expiration dates to expire.
Deletefazman,
DeleteTOW missiles don't expire.
All they need is a battery recharge or replacement, and sometimes a software upgrade.
It's not a case of a " use best before date" like yoghurt.
And that is all the more reason to make them, and the logistics train that feeds them, a special project/high priority target.
ReplyDelete"They are targeting bulldozers too because they have been used by the Army to quickly fortify areas recently taken.
ReplyDeleteWhen they hit these targets it is a display of awareness of the critical nature of logistics in military operations."
Patton said he would rather have more bulldozers than additional tanks. That was WW2.
The rebels are not doing anything more than the ,em of the civil War or WW1 would have done. If the battlefield is extremely kinetic you dig in.