Islamic State may be manufacturing artillery in Syria: report

PanARMENIAN.Net - In 2017, Islamic State media released a video showing the group manufacturing and modifying a range of weapons systems from workshops inside the Iraqi city of Mosul (since retaken by Iraqi forces).

The video served as evidence to claims from various sources that IS had a primitive weapons production capability.

Lately, IS has carried out an extensive bombardment of Syrian army and allied forces positions in and around the Euphrates city of Abu Kamal with SPG-9 recoilless rifles (a 73-mm light artillery gun), Al-Masdar News says.

Likewise, footage and pictures showcasing the ongoing insurgency being waged by Islamic State fighters along the eastern Euphrates shore against US-backed forces also demonstrates heavy use of the SPG-9.

This is interesting, the source says, because one of the weapons revealed in the 2017 propaganda video as being producible by IS is a reverse-copy of the SPG-9.

Given that the SPG-9 is not terribly complex in design with regards to materials needed and taking into account that IS already has the required knowledge to build it, there may be a chance that the militant group continues to produce the light artillery piece throughout stronghold areas still under its control in eastern Syria.