Syrian rebels built their own armoured vehicle Sham II to counter Syrian government tanks 1112121

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The conflict in Syria

 
 
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 00:32 AM
 
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.
     
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.

     
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.
The crew inside the cabin are fully protected, with the driver manoeuvring the vehicle by watching a screen which displays video from the cameras
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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