Photos of DIY Destruction: The Free Syrian Army’s Improvised Weapons of War

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From Firecrackers to Firebombs

Parents know that raising boys can be hazardous to your child’s health. Since time immemorial, young males have been fascinated and occasionally maimed by devices that go boom!

Unfortunately, the world is spattered with men who have never outgrown the concentrated childish glee that arises from engineering a successful explosion.

Granted, the Free Syrian Army is locked in a massively fatal clash to squirm out from under the hobnailed jackboot of tyranny worn by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. The Free Syrian Army’s grievances should not be belittled or minimized.

However, neither should it be assumed that raining death on fellow human beings is a heroic endeavor for responsible, adult human beings.

The fighters above, from the Free Syrian Army’s Tahrir al Sham brigade, use a shotgun to fire an improvised grenade at Syrian Army soldiers in the Arabeen neigborhood of Damascus.

While it’s true that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist, it’s also a fact that freedom fighters and terrorists alike have granted themselves license to take human lives.

Click through the gallery and look closely at these big grownup boys. Do you see inspired freedom fighters? Every mother’s nightmare? Or a confluence of the two?

Photo: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

The Makings of Mayhem

A man sits near parts of an improvised mortar shell produced for the Free Syrian Army inside a factory that previously manufactured steel and iron in Aleppo.

Photo: Hamid Khatib/Reuters

Slingshot Delivery

Free Syrian Army fighters use a catapult to launch a handmade grenade during clashes with forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, in the Aleppo district of Salaheddine.

Photo: Aref Hretani/Reuters

Double Loaded

A Free Syrian Army fighter uses a shotgun to fire a homemade grenade at Syrian Army soldiers during a fight in the Arabeen neighborhood of Damascus.

Photo: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Pride in Improvisation

Free Syrian Army fighters stand next to a homemade rocket launcher in Sermeen near Idlib.

Photo: Shaam News Network/Reuters

Makeshift Precision

A Free Syrian Army fighter holds an improvised mortar shell inside a factory that previously manufactured steel and iron in Aleppo.

Photo: Hamid Khatib/Reuters

How We Roll

Free Syrian Army fighters stand by a homemade military vehicle called Sham 2 in the Khan al-Assal area.

Photo: Zain Karam/Reuters

Comrades in Jerry-Rigged Arms

A Free Syrian Army fighter uses a shotgun to fire a homemade grenade at Syrian Army soldiers during a fight in the Arabeen neighborhood of Damascus.

Photo: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Stone Age Rocketry

Free Syrian Army fighters prepare a homemade missile before they launch it toward the military airport in north Aleppo.

Photo: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Cloudy Skies, Chance of Pain

Free Syrian Army fighters use a homemade catapult in old Aleppo.

Photo: Zain Karam/Reuters

When people become as creative about engineering peace as they are in manufacturing war, death counts in Syria and the world around will go way down.

Are there issues you’d like to see addressed with the innovative spark shown in these photographs? List those issues in COMMENTS.

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