Since the terror attack that occurred on the 24th of November 2017, many Bedouins in Sinai rushed to join the Egyptian Armed Forces’ fight against Sinai Province (ISIS’ branch in Sinai) as a sanctioned militia. Although they do receive armament and supplies from the military, they are already well armed with smuggled weapons that came from Libya, Sudan, and even Israel as seen in this photo!
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A Bedouin armed with IMI’s FN FAL variant, the Makleon. It was used as a light machine gun/ Squad Automatic Weapon. The visual differences between it and the standard IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) battle rifle, the FN FAL “Romat” variant is the heavy 21” inch barrel, bipod, and the flash hider (usually, it is the ‘bird cage’ variant).
The weapon might have been sold by Israeli arms dealers to Hamas and ended in the hands of the Bedouins, but that is just a single speculation. It might have been scavenged from long forgotten battlefields in Sinai during the Egyptian-Israeli conflict (1948-1979) or given to them by the Egyptian military who found no use for the rifle and the military museums is already full of IDF small arms.
Yet, there are other variants of FN FALs being used by Bedouins and ISIS militants in the region. Most common is the 50.00.
An old photo showing ISIS (SP) militants during a ‘training course’, notice the second militant from the left, he is equipped with an FN FAL 50.00 and a scope attached to it. ISIS had used the battle rifle for assault and marksman roles.
Notice in the photo there is a variety of armaments being used by ISIS militants, including the FN FAL 50.00 and the very rarely seen, the M14 (far left, beside the FN FAL)!
The RPG-7, AK47/AKM, PKM, and FN FAL remain to be the bread and butter of the Bedouin tribes in Sinai, whether they will receive other variety of armaments from the military such as CZ EVO3 A1 Skorpion, M24, AR70/90, and many more potential firearms, remains to be seen.