WarSclerotic

Syrian opposition captures ballistic missile facility

By Doug Richardson

3/5/2013

The Syrian opposition has captured what appears to be a ballistic-missile facility equipped with fixed-site launchers for ‘Scud’-type ballistic missiles. Located at Al Kibar, often referred to as Deir Az-Zor, it takes the form of a hanger-like building erected on the site thought to have been formerly used by a Syrian nuclear facility. In September 2007 the latter was destroyed by an Israeli air strike, and the shattered building was subsequently razed to its foundations by the Syrians.

In February 2009, the New York Times reported that Ibrahim Othman, the head of the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, had told a closed technical meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that a missile facility had been constructed on the site.

The recent capture of the Al Kibar site has been credited to the Ja’far al-Tayyar brigade and the al-Nusra front. Ja’far at-Tayyar is an alternative name for Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, son of Abu Talib ibn ‘Abdul Muttalib, the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Poor-quality video, probably taken using cellphones, shows that the building now present on the Al Kibar site houses a number of fixed launchers for missiles.

via Syrian opposition captures ballistic missile facility.

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