Syrian rebels go full broadside with mystery cannon gun truck (VIDEOS)

A group fighting both ISIS and the Syrian government has in recent months added some very old-school armament to their campaign.

Propped up on the back of a flatbed truck, surrounded by a host of pneumatics, is what looks to be some sort of breech-loaded cannon complete with a lanyard firing charge that some lucky freedom fighter gets to yank on to send what appears to be a non-explosive shell (let’s call it a cannon ball) at very low velocity (you can see the damn thing) a short distance away. However, when you combine the velo with all that mass, the effect of the energy transfer on a building already covered in dust and sand is very dramatic.

The locally made cannon is being used by the Rahman Corps (not like the noodles, but pronounced about the same), also called the al-Rahman Legion, a rag-tag group lead by a former Syrian Army captain fighting both ISIS and the government of Russian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  There are other videos of them using TOW anti-tank missiles, so maybe they are running low on them or just wanted to bring out the lawn ornaments to see if they could still make it rain. Either way, it’s probably cheap to fire and will definitely ring the bell of anyone in taking shelter in the distressed property under bombardment.

One piece over at Popular Mechanics theorized the stainless struts that elevate the gun and brace it may have come from a garbage truck which is possible, though something screams cement mixer to us.

The captions in the videos from the Rahman Corps, shown above and below, when electronically translated from Arabic are, “targeting the building where Assad’s forces are holed up on the front Arbin cannon local age-made,” “targeting fortifications Assad’s forces on the front Jobar neighborhood of Damascus cannon local age-made,” and “gunner pave the gatherings Assad’s forces in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus.”

Which explains everything. Those crazy noodle guys. This snackbar has become all aloha and very little snack.

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