Welcome to the second instalment of our series examining gun market trends across the MENA region. At the moment we are focusing on Iraq, Idlib and Afrin and Yemen. The time-frame of the data in this article runs from 13th January to 24th January 2020. The prices are average and are rounded up or down (for example 126=150, 124=100). If you missed our first instalment you can find it here.
Machine Guns
Smuggled MG-34 Seized in a Raid by Egyptian Security Forces in Sinai
While reviewing old articles on smuggled weapons and munitions to Egypt and to Sinai specifically, I came across an article on ”ONewsAgency” published on the 16th December, 2014, about the seizure of five hundred kilograms of Bango (a type of marijuana) and a variety of small arms in “South Sinai Governate”. One of the weapons photographed was the Second World War-vintage MG-34, 7.92 × 57 mm, general purpose machine gun.
6 Interesting MENA Firearms Seen in October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary, Sporting & Collector Firearms Auction Catalog
Morphy Auctions is one of the largest American auction houses and every year hosts multiple firearms auctions. Among these auctions, the most prominent ones in terms of the amount and significance of consigned lots are the Morphy Extraordinary Firearms Auctions. Browsing the catalogs of these auctions you can find a huge variety of rare, unique and historically significant guns – from old muzzleloading firearms to modern machine guns and everything in between. We browsed the online catalog of the upcoming October 2019 Extraordinary, Sporting & Collector Firearms Auction and found some of the most interesting lots related to the MENA region.
V9 Silah Report Podcast: Sinai’s ISIS latest Video, Baluchistan’s Fighters and More!
Just one day after ISIS in Sinai (also known as Sinai Province or “Wilayat Sinai”) had published its latest video, Silah Report recorded its 9th podcast and discussed the video’s content and analysed it. Miles, Hrachya, and Adham from Silah Report were joined by guests Calibre Obscura, Analyst Mick, Ataka, MENA Conflict, and KhyberAbdullah. ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones also made a special guest appearance.
If you missed last week’s podcast, check it out here.
Syrian War Trophies of the Russian Armed Forces
In late 2018, in the Russian cities of Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, the Russian military arranged expositions of arms and equipment captured during the Syrian War. These included a huge variety of production firearms as well as craft-produced examples such as the grenade launcher shown in the header image. Let’s take a look at these pictures and identify some of the weapons that were on display.
Erbil’s Gunsmith: Wasta Bakhtiar-Azizz
While in Erbil, we sat down with Wasta Bakhtiar-Azizz (وە ستا بە ختیار), one of the best-known and most highly respected gunsmiths in the Kurdistan region. Within Erbil and beyond, there are a number of gunsmiths that either work on small arms in need of maintenance and repair or perform services such as re-bluing, gold plating, modifications, and a number of other odd jobs that Kurdish gun owners request. Bakhtiar has worked in this community since he was a child, continuing the family’s business of his father, who was himself a renowned gunsmith. His son joins him in running the shop, and his brother owns a separate gun shop on the eastern side of Erbil. In addition to offering commercial gunsmithing services, he also volunteers his services to the Asyeish and Peshmerga, helping in maintaining and repairing their small arms.
PKT Coaxial Machine Gun Modified for Infantry Use
If you visit the Russian Wikipedia page about the PK machine gun, you will see a rather interesting image (see above) showing a soldier who holds a rather unusual “homemade” conversion of the PK machine gun. According to the article, the soldier on the picture represents the Artsakh Republic Defense Army. The picture was supposedly taken in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Sinai Bedouin Equipped With IMI Makleon
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!
The Arms Smuggling Hub of Egypt: The South
The southern region of Egypt is known for its green pastures lying on both sides of the Nile River, Abu Simbel Temple which tourists from all over the world travel to see, Lake Nasser that was formed by the Aswan High Dam, Luxor’s Karnak Temple. Valley of the Kings and so many more. Yet, there aren’t many tourists who would venture out and try to deal with the local inhabitants, who have their own unique Egyptian Arabic dialects, own unique traditions, and culture, which separates them from the dwellers of Cairo, Alexandria, and Northern Egypt.
Small Arms Captured by SAA During Operation BASALT
ANNA News (Abkhazian Network News Agency) has published a video where they show the arms and munitions captured by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) as a result of Operation Basalt launched by the SAA against various armed groups in Southern Syria. Besides the tanks, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, there is also a wide variety of small arms which is especially interesting in the context of Silah Report. Let’s watch the mentioned video first then discuss what interesting small arms were shown in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIWP9Jzbzaw
Below you will find screenshots from the video with captions describing the weapon systems shown in the image.
MG-34 with a number of PKM machine guns on the background. I think at some point a new wood stock for the MG-34 was made locally which should be the reason why it has a more simplified look.
Last but not least, some WW2 weapons still in use in the Syrian war. The very bottom rifle is a Mosin-Nagant 91/30 followed by an M1 Garand and a couple of MAS-36 bolt action rifles. On top of the MAS-36 rifles, there is a Chinese SKS (Type 56) with a folding spike bayonet and an M1 Carbine.
If you spotted any other interesting firearm in the video or noticed a misidentified firearm, please let us know in the comments section.