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Syrian Rebels Are Uploading Videos of Themselves Using American Weapons

We might be watching our covert tax dollars at work.

An Arabic-speaking man trails behind rebels carrying what appears to be telescopic sights, a long barrel attached with a turret, and what inevitably must be missiles.

It's a gritty sequence, as the bouncing footsteps follow the rebels to a position where they begin assembling their war machine. A quick shot pans to a far-off target in a field that looks to be an artillery battery, then back to what appears to be a fully assembled Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) launcher.

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The fighter lines up his target in the middle of a field and fires.

As the missile whistles toward the target quick conversations in Arabic follow. They still sound hopeful and uncertain their target will be hit, as the missile continues off in the distance in imperfect lines as the tail of fire gets closer.

Related: The Frontline of DIY Weaponry Is in Syria

Finally the target is destroyed in a dusty explosion. "Allahu Akhbar!"

What you just saw was likely the result of a geopolitical game the American government is playing in the Middle East: arming specific Syrian rebels with weapons tech against a mixed bag of enemies in ISIS and Assad forces.

Videos of ATGM launchers in action, shot and uploaded by rebels, have been appearing online for the better part of a year. Analysts have speculated their appearance on Syrian battlefields likely equals American support and supply.

This particular video was posted on the official Youtube channel of a rebel group active in Latakia, Syria. The group in the video also looks to be a recently united "free" rebel group and the type the US has known to support in the past.

Indeed, in an episode of Frontline entitled "Arming the Rebels" investigating the clandestine efforts of the US in Syria, a BGM-71 TOW is briefly seen in rebel hands. The footage appears to be from from several FSA rebel groups including Harakat Hazm and is very similar to the above.

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For a while now, the CIA and other American agencies have reportedly been financing and lightly arming Syrian rebel entities taking on Assad, and possibly these types of ATGM systems are part of those supplies, as Charles Lister noted in April.

Although unconfirmed, the weapon in the video is possibly a BGM-71 TOW a type of ATGM system made by American defence contractor Raytheon. The weapon can give lightly armed Free Syrian Army units the ability and mobility to destroy armoured enemy assets—a major help against better armed Assad or ISIS forces.

The porous border between Iraq and Syria—the theatre of operations for the Islamic State—means distinguishing operations in either state difficult, as the two conflicts continue to conflate. And with American military gloves beginning to come off in the fight against ISIS, Syrian rebels can likely expect more war tech courtesy of the US as the conflict further deteriorates into proxy wars.

Other nations like Saudi Arabia are known to possess similar weapons and are arming Syrian rebels as well.

Arming rebels is nothing new for the US. But unlike the days of the Cold War, when American Stinger missiles were covertly bequeathed to the Afghanistan mujahideen for the purpose of shooting down Soviet helicopters, we might just be able to watch the product of American covert war on Youtube.