IEDsGrowing use of IEDs by anti-government insurgents in Syria
The monthly number of IEDs reported in Syria jumped 134 percent from December to January; analysts say this is an indication of foreign involvement with the rebels
Whether or not elements of al Qaeda have infiltrated and Syrian insurgency against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the rebel forces in Syria have began to use tactics favored by Islamic insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan: IEDs.
The sheer increase in the number of IEDs aimed at Syrian government forces has led outside observers to suspect that foreign elements are now involved with the anti-Assad rebellion. The USA Todayquotes Army Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, commander of the Pentagon’s lead organization to combat improvised explosives, to say that “If they can sustain this trend, that indicates some external support.”
The monthly number of IEDs reported in Syria jumped 134 percent from December to January, according to the Pentagon’s Joint IED Defeat Organization.
To other observers, the presence of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and the heightened level of fighting suggests that Syria has moved beyond a citizen revolt, analysts say. “We have reached a point where it is an insurgency,” said Joe Holliday, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.
