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Herve Bar / AFP - Getty Images
Syrian rebels stand atop Sham II, a homemade armored vehicle made by the rebels' Al-Ansar brigade, in Bishqatin, west of Aleppo, on December 8, 2012.
Herve Bar / AFP - Getty Images
A rebel uses a GTS game controller to activate the machine gun mounted on the Sham II.
Agence France-Presse reports — From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals the latest achievement of Syrian rebels: a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed.
The Sham II is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as '100 percent made in Syria.'
Herve Bar / AFP - Getty Images
A rebel drives the Sham II with the help of cameras mounted on the vehicle.
Herve Bar / AFP - Getty Images
The Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car.
The fully-enclosed vehicle made from light steel is about four yards in length and two yards across, mounted with a 7.62 mm machine gun which is activated with a PlayStation-style controller from inside the cabin.
The vehicle has five cameras: three at the front, one in the back and another attached to the gun. Read the full story.
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A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
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Well that will be a terrible death for whoever is inside. I give it 10 min in battle.
Just roll a grenade under that thing and it is all over for anyone inside. The concussion alone inside that bare metal box will kill whomever is inside at the time. I also imagine that and RPG would make short work of the light weight steel that thing is made out of. About the only thing that you might be protected from inside of that is small arms fire and even that is questionable. I would think that a standard 7.62mm assault rifle with armor piercing rounds would cut that thing up pretty quickly. It is definitely inventive, but I doubt very effective in anything remotely approaching real combat.
don't be so short-sighted. what if this thing's not intended for military use? let me put it another way... if there were people who were undecided about fighting with the rebels, how many would be swayed to join up if they only saw this vehicle being paraded around? just because it LOOKS like it can fight doesn't mean it will. propaganda is just as useful as a gun. or a tank.
then again, maybe it CAN fight... there's no info on the drive train, speed, mobility, armor layers, etc. or maybe it's just a decoy, designed to draw attention and fire.
personally, i'm interested in seeing what they do with it. maybe it's a flop, or maybe it's a real tool that can be used to some real advantage.
"The Sham II is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as '100 percent made in Syria.'"
These people are notorious in faking and making tall claims!
Here Sunnis of Saudi version are in their own seventh century desert tribal lands.
Recall the tall claims by Saddam before Iraqi war 1991 and they way they ran for cover after the war started!
For all the making fun of it, really, we weren't a whole lot smarter during our civil war. Mind you that was in the 19th century, but it isn't like the rebels have technology.
To remind you: We made a one man sub that was made of wood, and meant to drill a hole in the bottom of a ship. Almost needless to say, "It didn't make it."
I don't know if I'd get in one, but if it stops the average bullet, and you send it where there is hopefully nothing stronger than that, it'll kill people. For the idea of rolling a grenade under it, that is as much being an armchair general as anyone is here.
Basically its a machine gun with armor on each side. Its not like everything that gets built is a main battle tank. And its low tech...but way higher tech than what the rebels are using now.
JS in SD- our own APC are nothing great either. AK close range can rip right through the armor like butter. Its standard aluminum.
It kind of looks like a modified garbage dumpster with wheels....but hey, it's progress and it will stop a bullet from a sniper when you are trying to rescue an injured person so A for effort.
I'm still looking for the "ACME" label on that thing.
Derek: We are in 21st century and not in civil war days.
Wonder how far it will take for these homemade tanks to make it into gaza? And will the same newspaper speak of those tanks in so glowing terms?
Built on a Volkswagen chasis. Note rubber tires. R2D2 (Rebellion-Destruction). Likely would withstand small arms fire from AK47's. But I agree with JerkinCoolClothes that its possibly more a publicity stunt. Look for export version SHAMWOW...wonder what happened to SHAM I?
PJ,
Ridiculousness honestly. The Palestinians would not face off against Isrealis in those things. They would be an instant kill.
I'm betting these so called homemade tanks are protection from small arms fire and clearly not ment to perform an offensive function, rather to safely extract a the wounded from the battlefield...
Traditional tanks would be a terrible choice of weapon in alleys and streets of a populated city with narrow roads....they need to move constantly and rapidly. This thing is designed to be manuverable and capable of navigating tight spaces...perfect for the city streets and alleys they so often fight in. Conventional weapons of war are way less effective in a city environment. You can shoot missles from all the war planes you want and use artillery to level a place but you will do nothing but create more places for your enemy to hide.
...rubbish, you say....trolling!
Troy screw you. I didn't ask for your opinion on whether i am trolling or not. All I am saying is - just switch the context and see if the same act becomes a virtue or vice.
Fair enough...deserved that..lol. Seriously though, you know that it would change. When Assad is toppled and all these rebels jump in to fill the power vacuum we are not going to like what we see.
That's all I am saying. My bad for losing the temper.
I would just spray paint or break the cameras than he could not go anywhere.lol
Although I will say this is the rawest form of adapt and overcome.
Someone in Syria's been watching alot of the Military channel and MTV's Pimp My Ride!
Wow, this is astonishing. The cutting edge technology used. I think that is the same video system that I use for my home security! However it's pretty impressive considering they made it out of camel dung.
Is it not great that Sham II made out of camel dung with coating like those of pigs are great?
See how these Sunni Islamists can imagine fantasies.
There was rebellion of Shiites against the despotic and highly corrupt Sunni ruler of Bahrain.
Brave Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League nations sent their forces and just quelled the Shiites rebellion in no time.
All of a sudden, these seventh century fountainheads of Sunni Islamic haters and killers, remembered “human rights violations” in Syria.
So the Sunni rulers of Arab League sent “human rights” group to Syria.
The head of the Saudi and their Arab League observers to Syria was a Sudanese Gen. The brave Gen was responsible for the genocides of at least 300000 Christians in Darfur!
Still House of Saud ruler and his 5000 princes and princesses and other Sunni rulers seventh century desert dances did not work.
Later they outsourced their dirty work to Turkey.
You see: Turkey is a strategic NATO ally and too much of Turkey’s seventh century Islamist Erdogan’s dances mean US, Britain and other NATO forces members have to pitch in.
What a way to outsource their dirty jobs to NATO forces just like Iraqi wars to save Kuwaiti, Saudi and other “oil rich” rulers!!!
Forgot about Sham II. It has got a right name: it is purely a SHAM. IT is good for weaving fantasies as you mentioned during intervals before Hillary, McCain, Romneys jumps into Syria!
Necessity is the mother of invention!
Hey got to give them A for ingenuity using stuff like Ps2 etc..
Why is this big news for ignorant US audiences? The Tamil Tiger terrorists of Sri Lanka developed and perfected suicide vests; suicide speed boats; radar evading low slung suicide boats; and a lot of armed vehicles while they were in control of a lot of Sri lanka. They also made their own mortars.. They made a lot of armour plated vehicles out of common trucks/lorries, and jeeps etc..They were finally wiped out in 2009 after a 26 year war..Tigers used a lot of suicide bombers, innovated the bra bomber and also used a lot of car and truck bombs.. What will happen in Syria is what happened in Libya. The Jihadi radical Islamists will take control of parts of the nation and the pro democracy forces will not prevail. Look at Libya.
The second equally disturbing report is what everyone who had an iota of common sense predicted way before the US and Europeans decided to meddle in oil rich Libya and topple and murder the dictator Gadaffi. The radical Islamic Jihadists that secular Gadaffi had controlled, defeated and repressed in Eastern Libya, including Benghazi have now become a powerful force of destabilization. It turns out, as predicted by most who pay attention to world events, that a lot of the weapons that were supplied to the rebels by Qatar and other US allies with US approval have fallen into the hands of radical Jihadists. A lot of those weapons also flowed across to backward Mali and now Northern Mali is controlled by oppressive Islamic Al-Qaeda type Jihadists.
The problem of these civil wars is more disturbing because of the global context. Now Al-Qaeda types have spread across Northern Africa; Mali will now become the next center for protracted and devastating military action in the year 2013. The US will get involved militarily in Mali through proxies the way it is now in Syria where there is a proxy war between Iran and the US now. The end result there might be radical Islamists and Jihadists rather than pro democracy Syrian forces taking control of Syria and its vast repository of chemical weapons. Is this the outcome the west wants? It most certainly is not what Israel wants.
Because of the foolish rash actions of the Obama regime in the US and other Western European nations, Al-Qaeda has spread to nations which had no problems with Jihadist militants before the Libyan disaster. All the radical Islamists who were defeated and contained by Gadaffi are now on the loose and creating a totally new set of problems and wars for the west. Libya is very unstable now. The Obama administration, Brtitish PM Hague, and the French and Italians and all the other Colonial busybodies who were after Libya's light sweet crude oil; wanting to corner all the post-Gadaffi contracts for oil fields must be held morally responsible for all the instability now seen inside Libya and places like Mali. What next? is anybody's guess.
So sad you think these Jihadis and other rebels including the pro-democracy ones(not the pro Islamic state Caliphate nut jobs) need US TV to innovate. Pay attention and go study the deadly evil Tamil Tiger terrorists. They even had a Tiger Airforce. They armor plated Tractors and Trucks and Jeeps. They invented the Bra Bomb suicide bomber. What happens if Jihadis take control of Syria rather than pro-democracy rebels?
Patience is a virtue. Homo Sapiens have been here a long time. We took our time. If we did not we would have been consumed by animals that fed on us. In Canada we took our time. We did not revolt against British Rule. We waited for Britain to abolish slavery in the British Empire. They finally did it in 1815. Due to your impatience it took you till 1860 to end it through a violent war that some have yet to forget. We stood quietly until Britain gave us independence in 1867. If we tried to take it from them too many young men form both sides would have died. It would not have been worth it. On top of that we would have hated each other for centuries for taking our young from us. Patience saved us from such long lasting hatred. If the Syrians rebels learned patience they could have waited for their taste of freedom instead of dying so needlessly.
It must have been Obama-engineered, after all, it's called SHAM II.
Where do they grow you? "OBAMA" engineered? Seriously? what a friggin' TOOL you are...
That is funny. Obama would call it the "SHAM WOW II" in honor of his prolific debating skills. Ha Ha
An armored goat would be more practical. No one would suspect an Improvised Explosive Goat.
I like the PS2 game controller and digital display!
Getting it to control the machine gun required some advanced skills, so I give it a "10" for overall geekness, really . . .
Really! :-D
WITH SO MANY BRAVE FIGHTING IN SYRIA and IRAN, WE HAVE NO ROLES TO PLAY.
LET THEM BATTLE OUT ON WHETHER SHIITES OR SUNNIS ALLAH IS GREATER.
Please remember Libya, Egypt while thinking about Syria.
In Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially House of Saud and other Sunni ME rulers inspired and funded Sunni Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
In Egypt, the Sunni extremists with labels like Salaffi and MB (Muslim Blood hounds) are opening up new chapters of Islamic bigotry. Morsi is just a front for them.
Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Pakis and Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones.
Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
I think its a gag. Suicide bombing gone mobile, because anyone who climbs into that thing is surely committing suicide.
If these guys had technology, they'd be dangerous.
..and throw a coat of paint on that thing, would ya?
Won't get me in that thing! Not in combat!
Pretty creative and ingenious way to improvise with what little they have. Using a PS3 controller to control machine guns and a tank? wow they should patent that or somebody will copy that idea in their next PS3 game.
Well, to be fair, it's marginally safer than being outside the vehicle firing the same machine gun.
100% made in Syria? Where is the game controller made? The car engine? The tires? The cameras and monitor?
The last innovative creation from the middle east was chess.
Now they just steal technology from the West and use it to attack Americans.
I'm thinking 3 shots to the cameras and it's all over for the Sham.
Why does MSNBC even care???
In Egypt, the "evil" Muslim leader was elected by the "good" Muslim people.
The "good" Muslim poeple then protest. When the women join the "good" Muslims... they rape them.
There are no good Muslims. When the Syrian rebels take over, we will have two Irans to deal with.
Because it is in their nature. The are so blinded by their faith in a violent, barbaric religion that the result is always the same.
It's OK for a Sniper Bullet, but I wouldn't be caught dead in that thing going up against a Russian Made T-72 Tank or an RPG. Can anyone say "Target practice?"
I will give them an A for effort though. I like the part where they replace a View port or windshield with a camera and display. The Video Game controller doesn't instill a sense of confidence in their chances of survival but I guess you gotta make do with what you got. I am amazed that they found a safe place and the time to put this together in a War zone.
God Bless the Innocent!
And boy, oh boy what a terrific street sweeper this will be. But for the moment, the crew ought to remember what an RPG can do.
...plug in a notebook (or iPod?), set up a Wireless WAN, and you don't even have to be in the thing... talk about off-the-shelf application!!
"We the unwilling, have, for the ungrateful, been doing so much, with so little, for so long...
we are now qualified to do anything...
with nothing"
KUDOS
They wanted a revolution and they got one. Soviet backed Muslim countries will execute their own people for even peaceful demonstrations. Iran is one such country. Islam is even more iron fisted than Communism. These people will get what they ask for stubs where hands once were whippings beheadings stonings and other such Sharia based acts of justice.
Now if they built them in quantity and made them radio controlled then they got something. Also, add some remote controlled RPGs and up their game.
For now, you might as well paint a target on the sides.
Sham - a trick that deludes
The rebels can leave. Its not North Korea. No one is forcing then to stay in Syria.
Their revolution is a sham.