Where does Hezbollah get American made m16 assault rifles?

[raisetheissue]

Hi!

Some middle eastern countries do use m16 but all of them are friendly to the United States and are Sunni governments? So where does hezbollah get their m16 assault rifles?

US is not like Soviet Union/russia they are tight on which countries are even qualified to purchase arms and sometimes do not supply the weapons even if the country has been approved and even paid for the military goods(Pakistan). I doubt that the illegal arms trade could have supplied Hezbollah with all of the m16s.. And how would the shady people get their hands on m16s being that they are so closely watched.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3774/1hizbollah0508xs.jpg

[Sabre]

Captured Israeli kit. There's thousands of M16 variants in Israel.

[Aussie E]

I read somewhere that when the US pulled out in the 80's they left wharehouses full of m16's. The Lebenese army has quite alot of western militray supplies aswell (M16's and M113 APC's)
What has shocked me is all the US helicopters (Chinooks and Cobras) that the Iranians have, I know that when the Shah was over thrown the got alot of gear, but where have they been getting the parts to maintain them all these years? There are even Iranian F4's.

[NimDod]

Captured Israeli kit. There's thousands of M16 variants in Israel.
do you really think they captured thousends of Israeli M16's?

*edit: If you get to see a close up pictures of an Israeli M16 (or any other rifle in that manner) you sould see there's and IDF's marking on it.

most of these weapons, like the TOW missiles, 106 recoiless rifles, the old american made uniform and so on came from the Lebenese army which as far as I know - most of its equipment is american (old 80's stuff).

there was an article in an Israeli weekend paper that some troops were suprised to see that the uniform of a dead Hezbullah terrorist had "us army" tag on them.

[Luno]

Aussie E

Usa did sell the M113 and M16 to the LAF. and some of those M16 have been stolen by the hezbollah


The US Administration provided the LAF with military equipment at symbolic prices:
http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/images/bullet.gif 750 Armored Personel Carriers http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/images/bullet.gif 3000 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles
http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/images/bullet.gif 27 CSB Bridge Boats
http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/English/Equipments.asp

[thatguy96]

During the Civil War in Lebanon a lot of Army personel simply decided to take their kit and go back whatever local militia they backed whether it was Christian, Muslim, Druze, whatever. This is how a lot of the equipment got to militant organizations.

[jetsetter]

What has shocked me is all the US helicopters (Chinooks and Cobras) that the Iranians have, I know that when the Shah was over thrown the got alot of gear, but where have they been getting the parts to maintain them all these years? There are even Iranian F4's.

They make parts. Since they have originals they can copy them.

[thatguy96]

Yeah, and they've worked on independant upgrades as well. The Iranians aren't stupid whatever some people would like to think.

[YankeeDoodle]

Olmert ( Israel) gave 10,000 M-16s to Arafats old gang a month ago if you can believe that. Maybe some of those were loaned to their friends up north.

[PersianPrince]

Iran produces the M-16 and gives them to Hezbollah along with other weaponry.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5158/30nw4xg.jpg

[YankeeDoodle]

Hey Persian Prince, I remember seeing a picture in about 1967 of the young Prince in an small Kids Amour car, it was a birthday present from his father, The Shah, it was a great gift, I wanted one too. I wonder if that's the Prince in Exile waiting to return to Iran? Any ideas????

[Ol' Bob]

I read somewhere that when the US pulled out in the 80's they left wharehouses full of m16's. The Lebenese army has quite alot of western militray supplies aswell (M16's and M113 APC's)
What has shocked me is all the US helicopters (Chinooks and Cobras) that the Iranians have, I know that when the Shah was over thrown the got alot of gear, but where have they been getting the parts to maintain them all these years? There are even Iranian F4's.

And F-14s too

[akmarksman]

watch the movie Lord Of War with Nicholas Cage..it's kinda based on a true story..but hollywood-ized.. I had a photo on my old computer..it was a small warehouse full of M16s..vietnam issue..select-fire..all of them just tossed in a huge pile...we're talking over 1,000 M16s..in 100% condition.

[thatguy96]

watch the movie Lord Of War with Nicholas Cage..it's kinda based on a true story..but hollywood-ized.. I had a photo on my old computer..it was a small warehouse full of M16s..vietnam issue..select-fire..all of them just tossed in a huge pile...we're talking over 1,000 M16s..in 100% condition.
Lets not forget that was a movie. While based on a number of realities and true stories, its still a movie. You'll notice that the piles of "Vietnam issue" M16s were all stamped with a civilian AR-15A2 rollmark.

Also, since when does Iran produce the M16? They make a derivative of the M16 which actually appears to be a clone of the Chinese CQ, which is itself a derivative of the M16, but these would stand out like a sore thumb in pictures. They don't look like the Lebanon Civil War era M16A1s that are all over Lebanon, in the standing Army, with militants, etc.

[haze99]

As stated by Luno, the USA supplied the South Lebanese Army with them back in the early 1980's. (some may have come from IDF sources, though that would be miniscle in number.)
kraf001 first posted pics of the Iranian S-5 (M-16A1) back in 2004. In additon the M-203 grenade-launcher! And as of his latest Iranian Army Excersie thread, no Iranian forces appear to be armed with them? I would venture to say these are for the export market?
All hizbollah photos I have seen to date show them with ex-SLA M-16A1's. The first S-5 rifle in hizbollah hands I have seen was this past week, on the August 16th thread.

[thatguy96]

Yeah, just as I figured, it stands out like a sore thumb with the CQ/S-5 handgaurd which is decidedly unlike any other currently offered. Did we ever get a conclusive answer on whether the S-5 was a licensed copy of the Norinco CQ or just really close (sorta like the CQ and the M16 ;))

[budgie]

Left over stocks
Third world copies
A few captured Isreaelis
Lebanese army sympathers

Old M16A1's aren't hard to come by.

[kayaker]

OFF TOPIC: can you own a M203 with a Weapon licence level 3 in some US states?
(always wondered about this!!)

[thatguy96]

M203s and other weapons classified as "destructive devices" can be owned by private citizens who live in a state where they are legal and go through any required local processes in addition to those mandated by the National Firearms Act. The National Firearms Act covers machine guns, short barreled weapons, sound suppressors, destructive devices and a catch-all last category called "Any Other Weapon" or AOW.