Recent reports from advocacy organisations have drawn public attention to the presence of UK-manufactured munitions employed by UAE forces during an airstrike in Matnah, south-west of Sana’a City, Yemen, on 23 September 2015. ARES has received permission to post a lightly redacted copy of a Conflict Damage Assessment (CDA) examining this incident, originally produced on behalf of a confidential client. The CDA,
Kenton Fulmer and Alex Larkin ARES urges those at risk from unexploded munitions to consult with trained individuals before entering contaminated areas. Please see the safety notice below. Children’s toys provide an inconspicuous method for the concealment, transportation, and placement of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Their non-threatening appearance can be utilised by bombers as a method of
Update 151119: A 17 October video from the same pro-Houthi news outlet displays rocket remnants from a strike in the Saada governorate with clearly visible markings reading “SS-60 MK4” (see image below). Recent YouTube video and images posted to social media show a number of unexploded submunitions of a type not yet documented in Yemen. A video
Kenton Fulmer Unexploded Russian and Soviet-made submunitions have been documented across the Syrian countryside since the arrival of Russian forces last month. While both the intended destructive impact and prolonged danger of unexploded ordnance (UXO) are well understood results of cluster munitions use, a lesser seen impact is the re-purposing of munitions that have failed
Kenton Fulmer ARES urges those at risk from unexploded munitions to consult with trained individuals before entering contaminated areas. Please see the safety notice below. The recently renewed employment of Soviet era submunitions in Syria has led to significant quantities of the aged munitions failing to function (detonate) as designed. Whilst the employment of SPBE series submunition was covered
N.R. Jenzen-Jones with Yuri Lyamin Footage uploaded to video sharing platforms in the past few days shows the functioning of submunitions consistent with cargo (cluster) munitions delivered by a Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) series attack aircraft. Photographs of SPBE series submunitions were posted to Twitter and Facebook earlier today, as well as the YouTube video
N.R. Jenzen-Jones with Yuri Lyamin Update 151011: The Russian Ministry of Defence has recently uploaded a video to their YouTube channel, showing a Sukhoi Su-34 employing a KAB-500S PGM over Syria. Update 151006: A recent image from Pravda shows Russian technicians with a Su-34 carrying the KAB-500S PGM. Markings present on the munition indicate that
Ivan Kochin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones Recent images released by the Syrian Center for Demining & Rehabilitation (SCDR) feature Russian PMN-4 landmines which were found just west of Daraa, in Southern Syria. In a video dated 28 September 2015, a figure can be seen employing manual demining practices to remove a number of PMN-4 mines. The earlier
Kenton Fulmer Recent photos posted on social media channels have illustrated the proliferation of an unmarked variant of the Russian TM-57 AT blast mine, as well as an escalation in the sophistication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Yemeni conflict. This cache of munitions (documented here in early August) is observed to contain over 150 examples of the
George Zahaczewsky Recent photos taken in Aden, Yemen, and provided to ARES by the photographer, show detonator assemblies for the No. 36 series Mills Bomb. These were amongst a variety of munitions left behind by Houthi rebels as they retreated in recent weeks. The container depicted in the images appears to be Canadian in origin
