|
Brown Moses posted:Following on from my blog post on the subject yet another Metis AT missile has been spotted, they seem to be making quite a few appearances recently This is a kinda human moment. The guy is psyching himself up, with the bearded man (probably an instructor or adviser) as emotional support (look how he shoos away the guy with the AK) and it looks like he's saying a prayer before he mans the launcher.
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 03:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 09:17 |
|
|
Charliegrs posted:LOL its really no surprise that Monsanto invests in Syria. If Monsanto's CEO doesn't live on a tropical island with a Volcano and/or skull-shaped rockface it's only because he's still shopping around.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 05:08
|
|
|
Torpor posted:Using a premier anti-tank rocket to shoot a building seems like a waste. Do they have tons to spare or just a more pressing lack of RPGs? It's not a completely weird choice... ATGM launchers are wieldy systems and Metis has a minimum range of 40m (the old Malyutka has a minimum range of 500m!). This makes them slightly suboptimal for use in street fighting as armoured fighting vehicles are fast and rather small targets, meaning the line of sight can become obstructed by parked cars etc. and it's not easy to maneuver the system to a better position like you could do with an RPG. ATGMs are better suited for long range defense in places where they can cover large areas. I guess if it gets the job done it gets the job done. Insufficient data to tell if it's wasteful for them to do so or not. Of course, ground troops usually are not too conservative about using their ammunition to clear a threat against them. During the Iraq war US troops were spending their Javelin ATGMs at an alarming rate against targets such as snipers on rooftops, civilian cars etc. This wasn't so bad tactically as it was unlikely for tanks to overrun them, but those missiles cost $40k a pop.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 05:23
|
|
|
Nenonen posted:I guess if it gets the job done it gets the job done. Insufficient data to tell if it's wasteful for them to do so or not. Of course, ground troops usually are not too conservative about using their ammunition to clear a threat against them. During the Iraq war US troops were spending their Javelin ATGMs at an alarming rate against targets such as snipers on rooftops, civilian cars etc. This wasn't so bad tactically as it was unlikely for tanks to overrun them, but those missiles cost $40k a pop. It's because of stuff like that they're trying to develop self-accurizing counter-defilade weapons to attack targets behind cover. The reason you'd use something like a top-down and/or guided weapon is to get such a precise shot that bypasses cover (by flying through a window or arcing over a rooftop) and the explosion usually guarantees the target is at least immobilized if not dead.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 06:16
|
|
|
Torpor posted:Using a premier anti-tank rocket to shoot a building seems like a waste. Do they have tons to spare or just a more pressing lack of RPGs? Most likely they just wanted to shoot the video for propaganda purposes. One missile won't make much difference either way. If they only had one missile that was probably the best use they could have put it towards.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 06:17
|
|
|
quote:International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has said the Syrian government has agreed to a ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a decision Damascus would announce shortly. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/10/20121024895639897.html Who knows what this means in practice. I also have no idea who Brahimi was negotiating with on the opposition side, if anyone.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 10:47
|
|
|
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabias-secret-arab-spring-8223550.html Not a very good article, but I'm amazed a reporter got access to Awamiyah.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 10:57
|
|
|
http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2012/10/taliban-justice-in-lebanon.html This whole story is crazy.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 12:05
|
|
|
Xandu posted:http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2012/10/taliban-justice-in-lebanon.html Why was him wearing an Imam Ali sword necklace such a big deal? Is the fact that this occurred near Tariq Jdideh (which I presume is a neighbourhood in Beirut) important to the context of the story? I presume the group that stopped him were Sunni? But yeah, that is a pretty crazy story.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 12:23
|
|
|
Munin posted:Why was him wearing an Imam Ali sword necklace such a big deal? Is the fact that this occurred near Tariq Jdideh (which I presume is a neighbourhood in Beirut) important to the context of the story? I presume the group that stopped him were Sunni? The Taliban are Takfiri, which means that they view any other Muslim that does not hold the same religious views as them as being takfir, or impure. The Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, is considered by Shias to be the first imam. The necklace marked the victim out as being a Shia, and in the views of a Taliban-wannabe he should be put to death for this. And yes, they were Sunni. Young Freud posted:This is a kinda human moment. The guy is psyching himself up, with the bearded man (probably an instructor or adviser) as emotional support (look how he shoos away the guy with the AK) and it looks like he's saying a prayer before he mans the launcher. Darkman Fanpage fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Oct 24, 2012 |
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 13:45
|
|
|
Nenonen posted:During the Iraq war US troops were spending their Javelin ATGMs at an alarming rate against targets such as snipers on rooftops, civilian cars etc. This wasn't so bad tactically as it was unlikely for tanks to overrun them, but those missiles cost $40k a pop. So what did the military/government have to say about that? Obviously they're going to be concerned about $40,000 shots to take out a sniper but on the other hand it's a sniper shooting, and I imagine having a pretty significant impact on troops vs regular small arms fire, troops. It almost reminds me of a video game where you say gently caress it and just kill someone with the largest weapon there is because you can. However, in real life, I imagine "sniper, most likely coming out of the top of that building but can't be seen" and then looking at your javelin which could take collapse the building he's hiding in as a very viable solution for an intense situation. My or my peers life is worth more than the USG's 40k any day.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 15:45
|
|
|
GreenCard78 posted:So what did the military/government have to say about that? From what I recall they fast tracked production of the LAW again so structures could be brought down less expensively.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:03
|
|
|
The Russians make a claim backed up with nothingquote:Russia: Syria rebels have US-made weapons I've seen zero evidence of Stingers in Syria, and certainly no evidence of scores of aircraft being shot down by missile, so I'm not sure where he's getting his info from. He should read my blog.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:07
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:I've seen zero evidence of Stingers in Syria, and certainly no evidence of scores of aircraft being shot down by missile, so I'm not sure where he's getting his info from. He should read my blog. Fixed. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:10
|
|
Munin posted:Why was him wearing an Imam Ali sword necklace such a big deal? Is the fact that this occurred near Tariq Jdideh (which I presume is a neighbourhood in Beirut) important to the context of the story? I presume the group that stopped him were Sunni? After the civil war broke out in 1975, Beirut was subjected to tit-for-tat massacres and ethnic cleansing by Christian and Muslim militias which led to the de-facto partition of Beirut into the east Christian district and the west Muslim district.  The Muslim area is divided further by sect, with the Shia southern suburbs (Dahieh) and the northern urban area. Tariq Jdideh, the Sunni area where this man was a ttacked, is right near the border of the Sunni/Shia districts, north of the Sabra/Shatila Palestinian refugee camps.  The southern suburbs became a stronghold for militiant Shiism as Shias fled from years of fighting in southern Lebanon, which was held by the PLO and then Israel. This area and were carpetbombed during the 2006 war by Israel. The southern suburbs are also where Syrian laborers are being subjected to harassment by Lebanese Shi'as. 
az jan jananam fucked around with this message at 16:37 on Oct 24, 2012 |
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:18
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:The Russians make a claim backed up with nothing Yes, but you, see, he is a senior intelligence official from an actual state. You are just some hoser with a blog. QED 
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:23
|
|
|
Have you seen much evidence of recoilless rifles being used in Syria, Moses?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:29
|
|
|
Crasscrab posted:Have you seen much evidence of recoilless rifles being used in Syria, Moses? They've been used in the past, in particular by al-Farouq in Homs, but in recent weeks I'm starting to see far more videos of them, along with Type-63s and Metis missiles I posted about earlier. It's as if in the last few weeks they've started breaking out their stockpiles of looted weapons, or receiving them from elsewhere.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 16:32
|
|
|
Munin posted:Why was him wearing an Imam Ali sword necklace such a big deal? Is the fact that this occurred near Tariq Jdideh (which I presume is a neighbourhood in Beirut) important to the context of the story? I presume the group that stopped him were Sunni? There's a long history of "checkpoint killings" in Lebanon. As Lebanon is a sectarian state, religion is listed on the ID. Checkpoint killings are when a particular group or militia sets up roadblocks and demands to see the ID of anyone wanting to pass through. Those unlucky to be of the wrong sect, or in the case of Palestinians, lacking an ID, get kidnapped or more commonly dragged off and killed The first large scale event of this nature was "Black Saturday" Dec. 6th 1975. The Phalange set up checkpoints on all the highways in Beirut and and executed anyone with a Muslim ID or who they determined to be Palestinian. This sparked retaliation from both the Lebanese National Movement (a leftist pro-Palestinian coalition) and the PLO. While this wasn't the first violent action in the saga of the civil war, it was the first large scale outbreak of randomized sectarian killing. As Az J J noted, due to Beirut's religiously delineated neighborhoods, militias used checkpoints as a way of controlling movement and access to resources of the populations whose roadways were controlled by said checkpoints. In Beirut much of the civil war was fought neighborhood against neighborhood. A perfect example of this is the current fighting in Tripoli between the Sunni of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the Alawi of Jab al-Mohsen.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 17:33
|
|
|
Xandu posted:http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2012/10/taliban-justice-in-lebanon.html Am I wrong in thinking that it's weird for a Lebanese Salafist to be wearing a shalwar kameez in Beirut? Isn't the traditional garb of the Salafist the jalabiyya? az jan jananam posted:The Muslim area is divided further by sect, with the Shia southern suburbs (Dahieh) and the northern urban area. Tariq Jdideh, the Sunni area where this man was a ttacked, is right near the border of the Sunni/Shia districts, north of the Sabra/Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. Would you happen to have a higher res copy of this picture?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 17:49
|
|
|
Looks like Sudan is blaming Israel for the explosion at an arms factory overnight. Interestingly, early eyewitness accounts alleged that a plane with arms had crashed in the area, or that planes were seen in the sky around the time of the explosion. Footage of the area shows a crater and alleged rocket debris, which Sudan says it will take to the UN. Still seems a bit implausible that it was Israel, but not outside the realm of possibility I suppose. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/10/20121024142531802810.html
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 19:06
|
|
|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2012/10/hes_behind_you.html An interesting retrospective on Qaddafi's career and influence. Maybe Sudan is starting to play his game?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 19:12
|
|
|
Thank you very much for all the additional details.  It really makes the setting much more clear and the historical context really drives home what fears any event like this evoke.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 19:54
|
|
|
Oh hey, the guy who claimed he had his fingers cut off in Tariq al-Jdeideh is now in the custody of the LAF for making the entire thing up.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 21:04
|
|
|
MothraAttack posted:Looks like Sudan is blaming Israel for the explosion at an arms factory overnight. Interestingly, early eyewitness accounts alleged that a plane with arms had crashed in the area, or that planes were seen in the sky around the time of the explosion. Footage of the area shows a crater and alleged rocket debris, which Sudan says it will take to the UN. Still seems a bit implausible that it was Israel, but not outside the realm of possibility I suppose. Some people are noting that Khartoum is a few hundred Km further than Iran. I also read something about how the factory may have been supplying weapons to Iran, but I haven't read anything to substantially corroborate that yet. It will be interesting to see where this goes, if anywhere.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 21:26
|
|
|
suboptimal posted:Oh hey, the guy who claimed he had his fingers cut off in Tariq al-Jdeideh is now in the custody of the LAF for making the entire thing up. This whole story is super weird.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 21:36
|
|
|
Hmm, Caro appears to have vanished, along with the guy who was taking him across the border.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 21:55
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:Hmm, Caro appears to have vanished, along with the guy who was taking him across the border. Oh gently caress.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 21:55
|
|
|
Party Plane Jones posted:From what I recall they fast tracked production of the LAW again so structures could be brought down less expensively. Half an hour later  I can't believe some of the stuff on the internet.I hope Caro is still alive.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 22:20
|
|
|
Ah, it sounds like Caro didn't make it across and is now broke in San Diego.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:02
|
|
|
In some sort of institution for his own and other's safety, right?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:07
|
|
|
Baronjutter posted:In some sort of institution for his own and other's safety, right? Nope, avoid any schools or churches around the San Diego area for the time being.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:07
|
|
|
Caro is a weird, weird dude.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:21
|
|
|
Can Caro be arrested in the U.S. for being an illegal combatant in Libya, or is that outside jurisdiction?
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:44
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:Ah, it sounds like Caro didn't make it across and is now broke in San Diego. Its sad that he likely won't find psychiatric help, but isn't this pretty much the best outcome that we could have expected? He's not endangering others, he's in no risk of being killed himself, and isn't in a position where he could start an incident or hurt civillians unintentionally.
|
|
#
?
Oct 24, 2012 23:54
|
|
|
Who won the election in Libya?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 00:23
|
|
|
Hasnt Israel bombed targets in Sudan before?
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 01:01
|
|
|
I'm sorry if this seems like a weird request, but I remember last year there was either an online article or a blog post during the Libyan Revolution where they were interviewing a Libyan about what they wanted. He responded with something like "we want a real government, made on the real rule of laws, not rule of men, and we want a separate judiciary." I'm writing something for a class and If anyone could either pull it up or knows when it was written so I can find it more easily that would be great.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 01:29
|
|
|
WYA posted:Who won the election in Libya? I think the more secular folks won the actual "party" elections but the individual candidates are more Islamist (but who knows since it's probably the first time they've ran for anything).
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 01:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 09:17 |
|
|
Charliegrs posted:Hasnt Israel bombed targets in Sudan before? In April 2011 I think they offed a couple of Hamas traffickers. At least, it was strongly implied they did. If they bombed the factory it definitely represents an escalation in the level of sabotage they're willing to engage in. If they were behind it, it could also be seen as a very overt signal to Iran in regards to operational capabilities.
|
|
#
?
Oct 25, 2012 02:14
|
|