November 2008, the Belgian arms producer FN Herstal, owned by the Walloon government, has already signed a contract in May with Gaddafi’s Libya and is waiting for the export licenses the government has to issue. 

In the meantime, representatives of the company are in Tripoli, on the occasion of the LibDex 2008, to present their products. Those products would, eventually, be found by a reported in the hands of the fighters who captured them from the soldiers of the 32nd “Khamis” Brigade during the 2011 conflict. For more information about this, click here.

image

On this photo, the third man from the left (blue suit, not hat, white hair) is Abu-Bakr Yunis, who was the Libyan Minister of Defense under Gaddafi. He was reportedly killed during the battle of Sirte, in October 2011. The first man from the left is Reefi Shreef, head of the Gaddafi Air and Air Defense Forces, said a Libyan activist who added that the man in brown suit, with glasses, facing the camera is the general manager of Waha Expo, where the LixDex 2008 was organized.

Who are the Belgian representatives? One of them is probably this “Mr. Michel” quoted in 2008 by the Tripoli Post: 

We supply Pistols, over assault riffles, light and medium machine guns and several kinds of weapons for ant-rioting. We worked closely with Libyan defense force since seventies, let say after the attainment of Libya’s independence, we do appreciate our partnership.

To see the other pictures, scroll left and right, above. If you recognize any of the persons on these pictures, please contact me at @damspleet.

h/t Libyan Proud

—

The pictures were all found on the website of the LibDex

Which Countries are Supplying Syrian Rebels with Belgian FAL Rifles? The Data Answer

IMPORTANT UPDATE, March 19, 2013: there was a mistake in this demonstration, it has been corrected. An updated demonstration is available here. Please consider the demonstration below has part of a trial and error learning process.

Some results out of a first digging into the Belgian arms export licenses archives.

Keep in mind that a license does not always equal an export. So far, we do not have the data for the arms exports themselves, but the licenses give quite a good idea of what was going on.

For now, we’ll focus on the licenses asked by the FN Herstal plant regarding only one type of equipment: an “automatic/semi-automatic rifle caliber 7.62”. As no other rifle of this caliber was produced by this plant in that period, we can assume that these licenses are for the FN FAL.

We did not have access to all the archives, for several reasons (we’ll talk about it later). Partly thanks to a FOIA procedure, we had access to the years: 

  • 1969-1974
  • 1980-1988

Total: 15 years

The FAL production, in Belgium, started in 1953 to end somewhere at the end of the 80s (the latest occurrence is 1988 for the moment). Years missing: 21.

These are the countries we studied:

  • Syria
  • Turkey
  • Iraq
  • Jordan
  • Qatar
  • Lebanon
  • Libya
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Kuwait
  • United Arab Emirats
  • Oman

Please note that we are still studying the data: those results might still change - slightly.


Afficher The FAL presence around Syria sur une carte plus grande

DATA

SYRIA

  • 1969-1974: 0*
  • 1980-1988: 0
  • TOTAL: 0

*There is a mention of a 100 FAL rifles license for Syria in 1969. This license was not asked by the FN Herstal plant, but by another company. It is thus difficult to assess if those FAL rifles were made in Belgium, and we preferred to leave them out for now. We will write soon about the Belgian FAL rifles sold to Syria before 1969, thanks to someone who approached us on Twitter.

TURKEY

  • 1969-1974: 0
  • 1980-1988: 0
  • TOTAL: 0

IRAQ

  • 1969-1974: 0
  • 1980-1988: 0
  • TOTAL: 0

JORDAN

  • 1969-1974: 0
  • 1980-1988:  max. 9
  • TOTAL: max. 9

QATAR

  • 1969-1974: 2,000
  • 1980-1988: 12,400
  • TOTAL: 14,400

LEBANON

  • 1969-1974: 10,715
  • 1980-1988: 0
  • TOTAL: 10,715

LIBYA

  • 1969-1974: 44,260
  • 1980-1988: 2,000
  • TOTAL: 46,260

SAUDI ARABIA

  • 1969-1974: 19,982
  • 1980-1988: 4,501
  • TOTAL: 24,483

KUWAIT

  • 1969-1974: 2,310
  • 1980-1988: 26,206
  • TOTAL: 28,516

UNITED ARAB EMIRATS

  • 1969-1974: 7,069
  • 1980-1988: 6,708
  • TOTAL: 13,777

OMAN

  • 1969-1974: 17,861
  • 1980-1988: 6,201
  • TOTAL: 24,062

OBSERVATIONS

Although the data is very limited (limited number of years + license is not export), some observations can be made. These observations are based on the temporary results and are, thus, not definitive.

With the exception of some Israeli-made rifles, the FALs observed in Syria do not bear any factory markings other than the typical Belgian production marks. Other marking could have indicated rifles were produced or assembled outside of Belgium; as it stands, the rifles observe appear to have originated from FN Herstal.

According to the features and to the serial numbers observed on the FAL rifles we have found in Syria, we estimate their production time to be post-78, and probably somewhere in the years 1980.

Syria did not order any FAL rifles between 1980 and 1988. Therefore, the FAL rifles observed on the ground come from outside.

The countries we chose to study are the one regularly appearing in the news as sending Syrian insurgents weapons or as being a territory from which weapons are supplied to them.

Rebel fighters have said that some of their FAL rifles were supplied by Libya. But most of the Libyan FAL rifles were ordered before 1980. Therefore, most of the FAL rifles supplied by Libya do not originate from Libya itself.

A CONCRETE EXAMPLE

Have a look at those pictures, below, part of a batch from Syria we published earlier. Let’s narrow down the production time and possible countries of diversion.

image

PICTURE 1: This is a FAL rifle found in the Jebel al-Zawiya region in September 2012 in the hands of the insurgents fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. No licensed production marks were found on this rifle, which indicates that this weapons has been produced in Belgium, at the FN Herstal plant.

image

PICTURE 2: The upper receiver is a Type III receiver, which was made as from 1973. This rifle was, thus, made after 1973.

image

PICTURE 3: The bipods grooves, under the hand guard, is an option introduced as standard as from 1978. This rifle was thus made after 1978.

image

PICTURE 4: There are two serial numbers on this rifle. This feature was introduced in 1972, which confirms the fact that this rifle is a post 1972 rifle. Moreover, after 1972, the serial number found on the right of the FN FAL rifle indicates the total number of FAL rifles made by FN Herstal in Belgium. The million was reached in or after 1978. This confirms what we said about the bipod grooves feature. According to the right side serial number, we can assess that this rifle was produced in or around 1980.

image

PICTURE 5: As from 1972, the left side serial number indicates the number of FN FAL rifles in a country’s stock. This FN FAL rifle, being the 1.117.071st of its kind produced in Belgium, is only the 4536th to have been sold to a particular country, in or around 1980. What is this country?

Well, it’s not Syria, which means that the country that bought this FN FAL rifle in or around 1980 diverted this weapon to a 3rd party at one point.

Looking at the data above, we can say that this rifle was not sold to Turkey, nor to Iraq, and probably not to Jordania. It was not sold to Libya, nor Saudi Arabia, nor Lebanon, nor the UAE, nor Oman. All those countries already had a stock of FN FAL counting more than 4536 rifles in 1980. On the other hand, this rifle could well come from Qatar or Kuwait.

Only one of the FAL rifles we observed in Syria was bearing two serial numbers, which allowed us to narrow down the possibilities. With the other rifles, only the ‘general’ right side serial number was there. So we can only talk about the possible production time, and not about the possible diverting country. This could also mean that more than one country is supplying Belgian FAL rifles to the rebels. The other rifles observed bear de serial numbers: 1,730,043 ; 1,732,382 ; 1,462,215 ; 1,473,224 ; 1,474,077. This indicates that they have been produced after 1980, and can not, therefore, have been purchased by Syria, according to the Belgian arms export licenses we had access to.

There is a way to know where those FAL rifles were sold to, and which country diverted them. The only way to know which countries are supplying the Syrian insurgents in FAL rifles would be to trace the serial numbers collected on the ground. In the Walloon Parliament, some have asked for the release of all FAL serial numbers in order to map the proliferation. The Belgian Walloon authorities, if they want to respect the legislation they are promoting, have to launch such a tracing procedure and have to make the result public. Will they do it?

—

Any comment, observation, reaction: damien.spleeters@gmail.com or @damspleet on Twitter.

All the pictures are from the author.

Thanks to those who contributed to this article.

Thanks to N.R. Jenzen-Jones (@RogueAdventurer) for the editing.

In this video, uploaded on November 8, 2012, the Shuhada Suriya Brigade, in the Jebel al-Zawiya, Syria, gives a good view of its small arms arsenal. I count 11 FAL rifles in this video (see screenshots below). But there is probably more of them.

Thanks to @Bjoernen_dk for pointing this video out to me.

Two new videos from Syria in which FAL rifles appear.

Three in the first one, above (uploaded on November 2, 2012).

At least one, on the far right, in a second video (uploaded on November 7, 2012).

Thanks to @Brown_Moses and @bjoernen_dk for pointing them out to me.

A FAL rifle equipped with optic scope and used to snipe in Blleramoon district, Aleppo, Syria. Video uploaded on November 2, 2012. Once again, it looks like this fighter might be experiencing some trouble with his FAL rifle. He fires once, then has to manually action the bolt to feed the next cartridge and eject the spent one.

Two other examples of this problem were observed here and here.

(h/t @Bjoernen_dk)

A FAL rifle in the hands of a Syrian rebel fighter in Deir Ez Zor. Uploaded on November 2, 2012.

(h/t @Brown_Moses)

Two FAL rifles equipped with optic scopes, used by the Islam Brigade, which usually operates around Damascus, Syria. Video uploaded on November 2, 2012.

(h/t @Brown_Moses)

10 minutes of hell for this Syrian fighter. The FAL rifle he is using to snipe, equipped with an optic scope, fails to eject and to feed. The constant malfunction transforms his rifle into some sort of bolt action FAL. At some point, the sniper even has to action the bolt by stepping on it. We encounter one other video where Syrian rebels were experiencing the same kind of malfunctions with their FAL rifles, which can make the difference between life and death when combattants are engaged in a firefight.

The question now is: why are those fighters having such problems with their FAL rifles in Syria? Although the videos are not detailed enough to provide any hints, interviews on the ground lead us to think that a possible answer has to be found in the type of ammunition used. More about this soon, without a doubt.

I could not identify the location exactly. It appears to be in Al Qadam, Damascus. Video uploaded on October 29, 2012.

h/t to @bjoernen_dk and @ali_alsanah

Several FAL rifles spotted in a video from Mahmpel, Syria, uploaded on October 31, 2012.

(h/t to @bjoernen_dk)

A FAL rifle spotted in a video from Douma, Syria, uploaded on October 31, 2012.

(h/t to @hlk01)

“Release all FN FAL rifles serial numbers” Belgian Walloon PM asks

Sur le plan diplomatique, la Belgique est le fer de lance de la lutte contre la prolifération des armes légères et de petit calibre. Dans les faits, des armes de fabrication belge continuent d’apparaître là où elles ne devraient pas être. Dernièrement, en Syrie.

Bientôt, dans Le Vif (en français), les faits qui ont poussé un membre du parlement wallon à poser la question ci-dessous:

Question Ecrite FAL RW

FN F2000 in Gaza: Belgian Foreign Minister answers to parliamentary questions, raises more questions

Recently, FN F2000 assault rifles were seen in the hands of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in Gaza. This flagrant case of arms diversion triggered some questions in the Belgian federal parliament. The Belgian Foreign Minister’s answer is raising other questions, and we’ll try to get some new answers.

In February 2012, FN F2000 were seen in the hands of more radical elements in Libya and many feared that Belgian rifles would proliferate outside of the country to other conflict areas. Soon after, the Belgian Foreign Minister dismissed those fears with a rather awkward argument.

Beginning of 2012, the Belgian Foreign Affairs made clear that they had no intention to contribute securing small arms and light weapons in Libya, even though the country is flooded with Belgian firearms. On the other hand, Belgium wanted to help securing MANPADS in the country.

Il va de soi que nous devons tout mettre en œuvre pour éviter que des armes tombent aux mains de mouvements terroristes. C’est la raison pour laquelle la Belgique prend des initiatives tant dans le contexte des Nations Unies que de l’Union européenne pour limiter les risques de détournement d’armes vers le circuit illégal et qu’elle collabore financièrement à une initiative américaine visant à sécuriser les dépôts d’armes en Libye.

Q&A below (in French and Dutch):

Senate Gaza

Top