In March 1962 the Israeli Defence Forces launched a raid on Syrian positions in the village of Al-Nuqayb, on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee. The raid, known as Operation Swallow (מבצע סנונית) was described by the IDF as a retaliation for Syrian attacks on Israeli fishermen in the Sea of Galilee. During the operation Israeli commandos captured a selection of weapons which were subsequently displayed for the press. In this article we’ll examine the weapons captured.
Light Weapons
The Illegal Arms Plaguing Israel
In late January, Israeli Security Forces captured four illegal arms dealers attempting to smuggle firearms in the Arab community of Israel. Israeli police recovered 53 firearms in this raid, in addition to the arrest of the arms dealers. In this article we’ll examine what was seized.
Iranian Small Arms in Somalia and the Horn of Africa
Since 2015 there have been at least 12 documented arms seizures off the Somalian and Yemeni coastlines by US, Saudi, and a variety of other navies. These weapons seizures range in size from 10s of rifles to hundreds of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) and thousands of Type 56-1 AKs.
Intriguing Khyber AK Carbine In The Mountains of Suwwat
During a short but ultimately eventful visit to the regions of Suwwat (Swat Valley) and Kohistan, located in the far Northern uppermost areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in late October 2021, a Hungarian-esque oddity was discovered lurking amongst the tall evergreen trees and majestic rocky mountains just a few kilometres outside of the capital city of Suwwat, Mingora. This mechanical contraption of metal and wood found in the arms of a security guard at a trout farm was very reminiscent of the well-known 7.62×39mm Hungarian AK-variant; the AMD-65 carbine, at an initial glance.
Beirut Clashes – Weapons on the Street
This morning in Beirut, Lebanon was far from normal as the streets turned into a warzone and clashes erupted taking the lives of many people, injuring even more and forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes. We examine the causes and look at some of the small arms seen on Beirut’s streets.
Operation Sword Edge – Sayeret Matkal’s Covert Operation
On the night of 11 November, 2018 the prestige of the Israeli elite force, the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit “Sayeret Matkal” was damaged by the Palestinian fighters of the “Al-Qassam Brigades” and the consequences of the operation led to the resignation of notable members of the Israeli government. The Israelis believed that Sayeret Matkal using the latest modern technological means, they could breach the security and military system of the Qassam Brigades, but apparently they failed.
A Review of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) Latest Products: Part Two
In this second part of our series looking at the Iranian Defense Industries Organization (DIO)’s current offerings we will examine AR-15 pattern rifles, precision rifles, and machine guns. In the first part of this series we examined the origins of Persian and Iranian small arms manufacturing and explored some of the DIO’s submachine guns and rifle offerings.
A Review of the Latest Products from Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) – Part One
In this first part of a series looking at Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) and its products we examine some of the DIO’s submachine guns and rifles.
Uzbek Fighters Visiting The Pak-Afghan Tribal-Area Markets
A long-lost video filmed by fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, once thought lost to us who’ve been following the arms trade in the Pak-Afghan region over the last decade and longer, has recently resurfaced after a few years of it being pushed off the world-wide-web and into the deep reaches of the online archives. It was once again shared with us by our colleague Mick who runs an OSINT feed, much to our jubilation.
World War Two Era Weaponry in the Hands of ISIS in Sinai
Their is currently an insurgency being fought in Northern Sinai between the Egyptian military and security forces with ISIS’ branch “Wilayat Sainaa” (Sinai Province). We have found materials published by Egypt’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior that has listed some of the interesting gear and weaponry captured from ISIS. This includes World War Two era weaponry, DIY weapons, and what appears to be a single modified M1 helmet that could possibly have been the property of the Israeli Defense Forces once upon a time (this will be covered in a later article); this brings up the question: how much gear and weaponry were looted from battlefields by the locals during the conflicts between Egypt and Israel. In this article, we will present some of the rather exotic World War Two era weaponry while saving the DIY materials for a future article.
(Note: While World War Two era weaponry is quite a broad term that encompasses firearms still being used by modern-day armies such as the M2 Browning and the DShK heavy machine guns; this article will focus on small arms that are no longer in production, extremely rare to be acquired on the civilian and black markets and are not modern-day replicas.)