From his home in the English town
of Leicester, former business administrator Elliot Higgins trawls through
sometimes hundreds of online videos a day from Syria's civil war.
His research, begun after he took
redundancy late last year, has made him a self-taught expert on the weaponry of
a conflict largely inaccessible to outsiders, in which disparate rebel groups,
some linked to al-Qaeda, form their own supply lines.
"I was just interested, and no one
else seemed to be doing it," the 34-year-old said in a telephone
interview.
In recent months, he has noticed that the
rebels have been getting much more sophisticated Chinese, Croatian and other
foreign equipment, notably the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry they have
long sought.
More traditional experts, many of whom read
Higgins' blog, have come to the same conclusion, although they say the supplies
are not significant enough to change the dynamic of the rebel fight against
President Bashar al-Assad's heavily armed forces.
"What we are seeing now are weapons
that could not have been taken from government stockpiles or bought within the
region," said Higgins, who blogs under the pseudonym "Brown
Moses".
"They must be being flown in and
shipped across the border from Jordan and Turkey."
Saudi Arabia and Qatar, most believe, are
the major buyers.
The shakily filmed rebel videos posted on
YouTube and elsewhere are almost invariably impossible to verify and contain
few signs of hits on genuine targets, although fighting has devastated towns
and cities, killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee.
Some appear deliberately intended to
showcase new weaponry, particularly the latest types to arrive such as the
shoulder mounted HJ-8 Chinese-made wire guided missile. Rebels crouch behind
rubble, trees or buildings, quietly chanting religious slogans before firing.
The most sophisticated anti-tank weapon
obtained by the rebels so far, it is capable of punching through even modern
"reactive armor" able to repel older and smaller missiles, although
some rebels have complained they are not up to expectations.
For the full report please click on the VIDEO above
REUTERS