Social Media – Page 4

M1 Garands in Jordanian National Parade

October 2, 2017April 28, 2017 by Miles

Although not recent (Summer 2016), M1 Garands were plentiful at a parade put on by the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces in honor of King Abdullah II. Among numerous small arms used in the ceremony were M1 Garands (among a contingent of SMLEs) in use by both marchers and cavalry. Obviously, these rifles have been downgraded to a ceremonial status in recent times but they are indicative of an era in which the Jordanians actually used M1s as frontline rifles. How they got there could either be through a Foreign Military Sales purchase from the United States, or it could have been surplus Greek M1s as well. Notice that most of the marchers have their M1s mounted with their bayonets as well.

This image is from Getty Images, showing Jordanian troops armed with M1s in previous years.

Airsoft Accessorized to the Max!

October 2, 2017April 24, 2017 by Miles

This photograph has been on the internet for awhile and appears to be depicting an Iraqi with an odd M249 SAW drum mounted around the STANAG magazine of his Airsoft M4 carbine. We doubt that this is a functioning 200 linked belt inside the drum that is being fed into the rifle and is most likely glued or taped to the magazine that is actually inserted.

From the appearance of the soldier, it doesn’t look like a combatant, possibly not even an enlisted soldier in the Iraqi Army. Rather this might be an enthusiast that is “dressing up” the part. Although his equipment bears some resemblance to gear issued within the Iraqi Army, he is overloaded with equipment that isn’t standard issue. The rifle itself appears to be a U.S. civilian legal 16.5 inch barrel AR15 with a permanently attached carrying handle, he has what looks like Kalashnikov magazines in his pouches, his visor and helmet don’t look to be ballistically rated at all, and it looks like he has mounted a Kalashnikov bayonet over his right shoulder as well. Essentially, nothing matches!

UPDATE

Due to an ever watchful reader, we were able to identify several of the products pictured. The rifle is indeed an airsoft product, with an AEG magazine and an AWT Armor Warrior Tactical G4 Protection Helmet. Much thanks to Irfan!

Arabic Guides to Kalashnikov and Ammunition Nomenclature

October 2, 2017April 9, 2017 by Miles

Much like in the United States Kalashnikov collector or enthusiast market, Iraqi Kalashnikov owners understand the differences in quality between AKs from different countries. The European ones take precedence over Chinese, and Russian variants when original remain supreme and commandeer a premium when it comes to cost.

These sets of markings are designating the country of origin stamps in addition to examples of serial number blocks.

While still maintaining the country origin markings, this chart explicitly shows the selector markings as well. Understanding and making sure all the markings add up is very important if a seller is to ensure the Kalashnikov he is purchasing is indeed genuine.

In addition to country of origin markings, these are guides in Arabic to ammunition markings and nomenclature. With the Iraqi flag imprinted in the graphics, the photographs appear to have been edited and translated by an Iraqi enthusiast.

Homemade Anti-Materiel Rifle With Iraqi Militia

October 2, 2017March 1, 2017 by Hrachya H

A Polish small arms magazine recently posted this to their social media page. It appears to be of a group of Iraqi militiamen from the Imam Ali Brigade, as is evidenced by the circular yellow patch with a Kalashnikov over an image of a green country profile of Iraq . The bearded militiaman is posing with a huge bolt action anti-materiel rifle. These DIY conversions had been seen multiple times during the Syrian conflict. Supposedly this gun uses either 14,5mm (from KPV or KPVT) or 23 mm (from ZU-23-2) barrel with an improvised receiver, bolt, trigger mechanism, furniture and bipod. You can also see a picatinny rail section mounted on top of the receiver for attaching a scope.

I guess they use the survived barrels from guns with damaged or destroyed mechanisms. Otherwise, it won’t be justified to take the barrel from a functional heavy machine gun or automatic cannon. Although depending on the situation it can be the case, too.

When making the new stock and forearm, the gunsmith definitely tried to make it look like an SVD/Al-Kadesiah.

Note also the other guys’ weapons: an AK, M4 Carbine and an M249 SAW LMG.

The Shi’a Imam Ali Brigade (Cited Source- The Observers)

The Iraqi Shiite militia known as the Imam Ali Brigades is accused of having committed multiple war crimes in the fight against the Islamic State organisation in Iraq, including summary executions and torture of captives. But its brutality isn’t the only thing fuelling the militia’s notoriety – it also has a well-oiled communications strategy.

In June 2014, Shiite leader Ayatollah Sistani made an appeal for mobilisation against the Islamic State organisation. Numerous Iraqi Shiite militias were formed after this announcement.

These new formations joined the four large, already-existing Shiite militias in Iraq: the Badr Brigade, founded in Iran in 1982; Saraya al-Salam (the “Peace Brigades”), which is directed by the radical Shiite religious cleric Moqtada al-Sadr; Asaib Ahl al-Haq (the “League of the Virtuous”); and, lastly, the Iraqi Ketaeb Hezbollah.

The Imam Ali Brigades have distinguished themselves by resorting to extreme violence. The militia, made up of combatants trained in Iran or Lebanon, has faced widening criticism since the release of a YouTube video showing men wearing the Imam Ali Brigades insignia burning a man.

Optic Mounted PKM in Syria (2016)

October 2, 2017February 28, 2017 by Miles

Kurdistan Insider posted this video of a Syrian Army advance in Aleppo in 2016. Most of the PKM variants being used in the Syrian conflict have been seen without any sort of optics platforms mounted to them, this is mostly because of the lack of equipment that many of these rebel groups can capture.

However in this case, it appears to be a thermal or at least an IR capable optic platform due to the bulbous appearance, in addition to the numerous knobs which might be battery caps for power. In addition the eye piece appears to be fitted or contoured to the shooter’s eye, indicating a bright screen that needs to be shielded during times of low light. Because this is a Syrian Army position, it is most likely that the optic is Russian supplied.

In the same video clip, what appears to be an AK century series rifle being used by frontline soldiers, possibly in 5.45x39mm due to the straighter magazine in use.

AR70s in Iraq

February 17, 2017 by Miles

Images gained from Iraqi social media groups have indicated the transfer and usage of 5.56x45mm NATO Beretta AR70s. Specifically there has been one rifle spotted with the Shi’a Al-Abbas Brigade. The Al-Abbas Brigade was originally formed in Syria in 2012 but after heavy losses with Daesh moved to Iraq in 2014.

Some of these AR70s appear to have been modified with Airsoft picatinny rail handgun systems to provide a picatinny interface. The Italian rifle never received an upgrade to a picatinny system having been replaced by Beretta’s ARX-160 instead. The rail in the title photograph looks to be a very common AR Airsoft rail coming out of China with the oval vents, very similar to many handguards from UTG. However the example below might be one of the Daniel Defense fakes with the 12 o’clock gas tube vents actually installed at the 6 o’clock position. Both examples show an M16A4 handguard mounted to a rail section that covers the top portion of the rifle, leading S.R. to believe that they might originate from the same source or small arms market.