Abdul Hakim Yasin, a rebel commander, inspecting a homemade artillery shell. Bryan Denton for The New York Times
Many Hands Patch Together Syrian Rebels’ Arsenal -- New York Times
TAL RIFAAT, Syria — As the midsummer sun blazed over this partially deserted Syrian city one recent afternoon, two young men appeared in a pickup truck in an alley near several auto repair workshops. Protruding from the truck’s bed was a steel pipe about three feet long and two and a half inches wide, resting on a simple frame.
The pipe was not for plumbing. It was a locally made mortar that had been used in July in the battle for Azaz, a city in northern Syria where antigovernment fighters drove away the army of President Bashar al-Assad.
Read more ....
My Comment: The Syrian rebels are following the same playbook that Libya's rebels had to follow .... relying on local machine shops and mechanics to make weapons to combat a professional army.