Syria Conflict: Army unveils weaponry left behind by rebels, ISIS
Updated 22:26, 05-Aug-2019
Syrian military forces have unveiled a large amount of weapons and ammunition left behind by rebels and ISIS in the country's south, including US-made missiles. CGTN Correspondent Zhu Xuesong has more from Damascus.
From sniper rifles and bullets to missiles and launching systems, dozens of weapons were lined up for display.
MAJOR AHMAD MELHEM COMBATING UNIT OF SYRIAN ARAB ARMY "The weapons are bullets for PKS and 12.7mm machine guns. There are 200,000 bullets. There is also ammunition for T-72 tanks and others, night vision binoculars, in addition to US-made weapons that terrorists possessed, like M16s, 23mm anti-war jets weapons, and platforms from American anti-armor TOW type missiles, which were used by terrorist groups to destroy Syrian military tanks and armored vehicles."
ZHU XUESONG DAMASCUS, SYRIA "Several US-made M16 rifles have also been seized by the Syrian military. Here we can see that someone has removed the original serial number and engraved a new one on it, showing they don't want these rifles to be traced."
Most of the weapons were coated with machine oil for rust protection. This indicates that ISIS and rebels didn't expect the Syrian Arab Army to advance so rapidly and they hoped to fight back someday and regain these weapons.
Syrian military officials told CGTN that this is not their first time to display weapons and ammunition seized from rebels and ISIS. The number of weapons found shows the huge support terrorist groups receive from many foreign countries.
MAJOR AHMAD MELHEM COMBATING UNIT OF SYRIAN ARAB ARMY "This huge amount of weapons proves the support the terrorists have from many countries, with the US being a top one. And those weapons have been smuggled from neighboring countries under the supervision of foreign intelligence officers."
Officials also revealed that the recovered weapons will be used as arms supplements for Syrian armed forces to defend the war-torn country. Zhu Xuesong, CGTN, Damascus, Syria.