How to Build an Army in Your Basement

From homemade rockets to car bombs, take a look at the weapons that Syria’s rebels are using to defeat Bashar al-Assad.

BY ELIOT HIGGINS | DECEMBER 4, 2012

CLUSTER BOMBLET WARHEADS

This unique video demonstrates the ingenuity of the Syrian opposition, as well as some of the risks they take to procure explosives. It begins with Syrian opposition members digging up unexploded PTAB 2.5m cluster bomblets -- an extremely dangerous job, considering how unstable unexploded cluster bomblets can be. The rebels then remove the fuses and tail fins from the bomblets, and replace the fin with fittings that allows them to be screwed into a rocket. A newly manufactured fuse is then screwed into the warhead, completing the rocket.

What we are seeing here is not just cluster bomblets being repurposed as warheads, but a manufacturing process that creates both a specialized fitting and an entirely new fuse.

 

Eliot Higgins writes for the Brown Moses Blog, which covers the military hardware and tactics used in the Arab revolts. Follow him on Twitter: @Brown_Moses.