Research & Analysis of SVBIED Design and Tactics

The SVBIEDs Of The 2016 Aleppo Offensives – Part 1

First of all, I would like to thank a number of people who assisted me with information, translations, geolocations, and footage for this article. These people include, among others; E_Of_Justice, John Marquee, Suheil al-Ghazi, Samir, Qalaat Al Mudiq, Danspiun, Jakub Janovsky,…

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Triumph & Symbolism – What Happens To Captured Car Bombs

Ever since the conflicts in Syria and Iraq progressed toward semi-conventional fighting in 2013-2014, up-armoured suicide car bombs, or Suicide Vehicle-Borne IEDs (SVBIEDs) have been a recurring feature of the battlefields. Lacking air superiority, non-state actors in both countries have…

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The Green Car Bombs of Eastern Aleppo

BACKGROUND Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, a range of disparate opposition groups (including Jabhat al-Nusra – now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/HTS) have wrestled with loyalist forces over control of the immensely strategic city of Aleppo. Situated in the…

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The Disabled Suicide Bombers of The Islamic State

The Islamic State’s propaganda is multifaceted and made up of different narratives. A lot has been written about how the Islamic State (hereafter IS) employs these narratives in their propaganda output, and how the group’s media is carefully crafted in…

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The Myth of the Remote-Controlled Car Bomb

Two weeks ago, I published an in-depth report with European Eye on Radicalization, in which I examined the who’s and what’s of Remote-Controlled Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (RC-VBIED) use. In the report, I compare and contrast the use of such…

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Mining Haul Trucks – The Largest SVBIEDs In The World

The SVBIEDs used by the Islamic State (IS) throughout the years have come in all different sizes. Everything from sedans, to pick-up trucks, heavy transport trucks, heavy construction equipment, and military armoured vehicles have been converted into rolling bombs. While…

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Last Resort – When Main Battle Tanks are Used as SVBIEDs

The Islamic State’s (IS) extensive acquisition of military armoured vehicles from government forces in both Syria and Iraq has been a well-documented phenomenon. Especially during their initial massive expansion in the 2013-14 period, but also sporadically over the years. These…

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Islamic State & The Cross-Provincial Use of SVBIEDs

After the Islamic State had ascended to prominence in the period of 2013-14, their state-building venture really took off. The territories in Syria and Iraq under their control were divided into more than a dozen provinces (wilayat), each supervised by…

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Daesh in Daraa – The SVBIEDs of Jaish Khalid Bin al-Walid

History Jaish Khalid Bin al-Walid (The Khalid Bin al-Walid Army) was an IS-affiliated group that operated in the Yarmouk Basin in Syria’s southwestern-most Daraa province since its formation in May, 2016 until they were militarily crushed in a Syrian loyalist offensive…

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The early SVBIEDs of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia

Prior to the formation of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – or AQAP – in 2009, al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia had been engaged in attempts to lay the basis for a wider insurrection against the Saudi royal family. The US-led…

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The Rocket-Upgraded SVBIEDs of Mosul

On April 20th 2017, The Islamic State’s “Amaq news agency” published a video report from the raging battle in western Mosul. The video, titled “An innovation enters the battlefield in Mosul”, began by showing footage of remotely-operated recoilless rifles, as…

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The Islamic State’s own SVBIED statistics

Beginning in October 2015 and ending in September 2017, Amaq News Agency (the unofficial IS ‘state media’) regularly summarised all IS-claimed “martyrdom operations” (suicide bombings) in Syria, Iraq and Libya in infographics released on a monthly basis. Though these infographics…

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The World’s Largest Collection of Suicide Car Bombs

An SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device) is usually a very high-value asset for the group using it, meaning that they’re typically deployed in quite a reserved fashion. Even for IS, it’s not often that you see them use more…

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The evolution of Suicide Car Bombs examined

Last August I wrote a relatively brief summary on the recent evolution of SVBIEDs for AOAV (Action On Armed Violence) up until the battle of Mosul & the start of the battle of Raqqah. It’s available to read on their…

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The History and Adaptability of the Islamic State Car Bomb

Historically speaking, car bomb usage has been reserved for use by terrorists in civilian areas. A nondescript civilian vehicle filled with explosives would detonate at a target, causing deaths and wreaking havoc. While that statement partly stands today, there’s one place where car…

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