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.
AK
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.
U.S. 5th Fleet Seizure of Arms in the North Arabian Sea
On December 20, 2021, the US Navy’s 5th Fleet intercepted a stateless dhow in the North Arabian Sea carrying arms and ammunition. This was the third interception made by the 5th Fleet during 2021, of dhow carrying SALW towards Yemen with its origin likely being Iran. Notably, this is the first instance of ammunition being found by the 5th Fleet this year.
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.
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.
Hekmatyar’s AK
Recently, a colleague from Afghan Eye, an independent media organisation covering Afghanistan, shared with us a video uploaded by a Twitter user which purportedly showed an Afghan elder of some renown handling and firing an AK-pattern rifle. The man in question was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The Khyber Diaries: A Glimpse Into An ‘Antique’ Arms Shop
An often-nostalgic thing to do is reminisce of the arms shops in the days of old. Those well-stocked dealerships. They were once a lot like Aladdin’s cave with large arrays of plentiful, but now hard-to-find arms on display and for sale, at extremely affordable prices by today’s standard. Luckily, we can occasionally encounter some remnants of these days in Pakistan where an abundance of now-antiquated firearms are still to be found in the arms bazaars of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within places like the infamous town of Darra Adamkhel and to a lesser degree, in those within and close to Peshawar city.
Gulf War 30: Captured Iraqi Small Arms of Desert Storm
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Gulf War. A conflict which saw a grand coalition of Western countries, Arab nations and Gulf states unite to liberate Kuwait from the grip of Saddam Hussein. In this article we’ll take a look at some of the small arms and light weapons captured by the coalition forces during the 100 hour ground campaign that saw allied forces sweep through Kuwait and into Iraq before a ceasefire was called on 28th February 1990.
Small Arms of Kurdish Movie: ‘The End Will Be Spectacular’ (Ji Bo Azadiyê)
In 2019, a movie called The End Will Be Spectacular (Kurdish: Ji Bo Azadiyê), directed by Ersin Çelik, was released. This film is the first full-length and professional production made in Rojava, in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Perhaps the most interesting and important detail about the film is that most of the actors are fighters with the Kurdish Resistance Movement who fought against ISIS and the weapons used in the film are real. One of the actors Cihan Sever (Rûbar Şervan), who plays a Kurdish commander named Çiyager in the film, died in the clash with the Turkish armed forces (TSK) on October 27, 2019.