Keeping it Quiet is a series of articles by the Twitter account Everest65. First published on the webpage Calibre Obscura, he has been extremely generous in allowing Silah Report to republish his findings here. Content has been lightly edited. Be sure to look for the rest of the series as it becomes published.
Amongst various militant groups in the Middle East there is a sporadic yet noteworthy use of suppressors used on firearms. I’ve been tracking this and have found that suppressors, also known as silencers or moderators, have been used by Hayat Tahir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State (ISIS), People’s Protection Units (YPG), and some other groups. This has lead to some interesting conclusions from my observations. Whilst there doesn’t seem to be a great dearth of video or still imagery of suppressor use by any major rebel group in Syria, in this article I’ll be looking at analyzing some of them.
ISIS & AQ in Iraq
One of the most shocking videos of AQ in Iraq in the Summer of 2012 was a disguised night-time raid, which Long War Journal details:
The al Qaeda fighters are then issued uniforms that are worn by SWAT teams in the Iraqi National Police. Later that night, the militants, disguised as police commandos, get in the pickup trucks, some which have heavy machine guns mounted in the bed. Lights flashing, the al Qaeda fighters cruise the desert highways before they hit their targets: police barracks, checkpoints, and two senior Iraqi police commanders.
The Iraqi policemen appear to be stunned by the raids and comply with the al Qaeda operatives, clearly believing them to be INP commandos. The al Qaeda fighters flex-cuff the policemen, drag them outside of their positions, and line them up on the ground. The insurgents then walk down the line, and coldly shoot the policemen in the head with silenced pistols.
Whereas this raid did stand out to me because it was published online, there is evidence to suggest that this insurgent tactic was used much earlier- an article from The Guardian mentions waves of bomb and “silenced pistol” attacks across Baghdad, taking advantage of the disarray caused by the widespread issues in the 2010 election. A Senior Iraqi officer, Brigadier General Abdel-Hussein al-Kadhoumi, was killed by gunmen with suppressed pistols in May 2009. We know this tactic generally isn’t rare-with Canadian Artillery Engineer Gerald Bull being killed by suspected Iraqi or Israeli Hit Team with 5 .32 ACP bullets shot into his neck and back by a suppressed weapon- most likely to be a Beretta Model 70- another example being the unfortunate case of Laurence Foley, an American Diplomat killed in Jordan by men working on behalf of AQ in Iraq using a suppressed .32 ACP pistol in 2002. Without going over the history of use of small calibre suppressed pistols by intelligence agencies over time (Hint: It’s out of the scope of this article), it’s safe to say that this tactic is a common and oft-used one, the events quoted above being nowhere near rare. This is touched on in this excellent 2008 post from the Jamestown Foundation on Insurgent use of suppressed pistols. It refers to “7mm Pistols” which we can assume refers to 7.65mm Browning, or 32 ACP.
Here’s a two (cropped) images from the video that show the suppressed pistols in use:
1: A pistol in use.
2:The same pistol, having failed to cycle, having the slide pulled back to re-cock
The size of these handguns appears to show a steel-framed pistol that seems to resemble a Walther PPK or derivative, of which cheap Interarms Clones are apparently popular. This video also gives an estimation of the volume reduction offered by a commercial suppressor- the Stealth Engineering Group “Jefferson”. In this case, this pistol could be chambered in .22lr, .32ACP or .380, all of which can be successfully suppressed:
Below are some examples of suppressed handguns in the hands of ISIS, ISIS derivatives and others being used for covert ops and assassinations, a task for which a suppressor, rudimentary & homemade it may be, would certainly assist with the destabilization of the security situation of the state the group is fighting. Also included are ones for sale, captured etc.
(ISIS, Yemen, August 2016, Assassination of a Yemeni Colonel in Aden. This shows the pistol cycling)
(November 2012, then ISI, Now ISIS. Note chromed pistol- possible officer or ceremonial model- and civilian dress with lack of beard)
(ISIS, Syria, April 2015. .32 ACP Walther PPK.)
(2017, ISIS, North Bagdad. Note successful cycling of pistol. I have obscured victim’s faces.)
(2012-13, ISIS, Iraq. Glock 19 is in use. Green laser is attached to M16, off-screen)
(ISIS, Aleppo, Syria. Feb 2014. Pistol is PPK clone in .380 ACP or 32 ACP with Interarms import/export markings on it.)
ISIS employs rifle suppressors in seemingly a more limited role, as opposed to their common use on pistols mentioned above. The group appears, as part of its strategy of using long/accurate 5.56mm platforms in the DMR Role, to embrace suppressors to assist in the concealability and survivability of its close range and urban sniper squads. POI Shift (The shift of the bullet when a suppressor is installed) would be naturally less of an issue at shorter ranges.
(Iraq, December 2016. M16A4 used in close fighting)
(Fallujah, Iraq, June 2016. Short Suppressor on AK type rifle. Direct Thread Mount. This shorter type would naturally be louder.)
(Raqqa, Syria. July/Aug 2017. Rifle is SVD Dragunov used in DMR role, notice painted/sprayed camo and spotter)
(In the midst of Urban Fighting against SDF, Raqqa, 2017. Note Steyr AUG used in close range role, Glock 19 as sidearm, and tape-wrapped M16A4 on spotter.)
It’s interesting to note that the Chechen sniper is using a suppressor wrap very similar to a product such as a SilencerCo Suppressor Cover:
This wrap has a variety of uses- concealment/camouflage, ease of quick removal (Protects against burns), and also mitigating the “mirage affect” from repeated firing- as the rifle is used, the suppressor gathers a lot of heat. This heat begins to rise off of the suppressor and creates a mirage- this mirage can obstruct the users’ view making it almost impossible to see the target. In the hot conditions of Iraq and Syria this would be made worse.
Below is an interesting case-an improvised 12.7mm or 14.5mm anti-material rifle in use by ISIS (A fairly common phenomenon), but with a very large suppressor:
(Raqqa, Syria. July/Aug 2017)