Syrian
rebels built their own armoured vehicle Sham II to counter Syrian government
tanks.
To
counter the Syrian government tanks, rebels have built and deployed the
"Sham II," an home-made wheeled armoured vehicle. Without the
advantage of a well-financed and equipped national military, Syrian rebel
fighters have turned to their own ingenuity to level the playing field
in the fight against Bashar al-Assad's regime.
A Syrian rebel walks past Sham II, a homemade armoured vehicle made by
the rebels' Al-Ansar brigade, in Bishqatin, 4 kms west of Aleppo, on December
8, 2012.
Sham
II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and
touted by rebels as "100 percent made in Syria."
It required a "month of work" for the design, assembly and development
of the vehicle, says its designer Mahmud Abud from the Al-Ansar rebel
brigade in the Aleppo region of northwest Syria.
The fully-enclosed vehicle is made from light steel and has a lenght of
four meters and a width of two meters, a remotely weapon station armed
with a 7.62 mm machine gun is mounted on the top of the vehicle, which
is controlled from inside the crew cabin with a joystick like the PS2
video game station.
The metal walls are 2.5 centimetres thick and said to be able to resist
up to 23 mm cannon fire. The vehicle, however, is not protected against
RPG rocket-propelled grenade or tank fire.
The crew inside the cabin are fully protected, with the driver manoeuvring
the vehicle by watching a screen which displays video from the cameras.
The
crew inside the cabin are fully protected, with the driver manoeuvring
the vehicle by watching a screen which displays video from the cameras.
The Sham II has five cameras: three at the front, one in the back and
another attached to the gun.
The gunner, seated next to the driver, can activate the machine gun by
watching another screen and using a control stick equipped with push buttons.
Sham II, as the name suggests, is an enhanced version of its predecessor.
The earlier model shielded the driver but the rest of the crew were exposed
to enemy fire.
Sham I has already been deployed in combat while Sham II is soon to join
the fray in Aleppo as part of the Saad Benmoaz battalion of the Al-Ansar
brigade, says Abud.
Video
Sham II Free Syrian army rebels home-made wheeled armoured vehicle
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