A barrel bomb is an improvised unguided bomb, sometimes described as a flying IED (improvised explosive device). They are typically made from a large barrel-shaped metal container that has been filled with high explosives, possibly shrapnel, oil or chemicals as well, and then dropped from a helicopter or aeroplane. Due to the large amount of explosives (up to ), their poor accuracy, and indiscriminate use in populated civilian areas (including refugee camps), the resulting detonations have been devastating. Critics have characterised them as weapons of terror and illegal under international conventions.
The earliest known use of barrel bombs in their current form was by the Israeli military in 1948. The second known use of barrel bombs was by the US military in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Starting in the 1990s, they were also used in Sri Lanka, Croatia and Sudan. Barrel bombs have been used extensively by the Syrian Air Force during the Syrian civil war—bringing the weapon to widespread global attention—and later by the Iraqi forces during the Anbar campaign. Experts believe they will continue to be embraced by unstable nations fighting insurgencies since they are cheap to make and utilise the advantages of a government's airpower.
Description
Barrel bombs are cheap to produce, potentially costing as little as $200 to $300. They can be used with any type of aircraft including non-military cargo planes. The explosive payload can be as simple as fertilizer and diesel. The bomb may contain metal shrapnel such as nuts and bolts or even chemicals such as chlorine. The bomb is barrel-shaped and might be made from improvised material or specially designed. The early versions in Syria used lit fuses and thus had to be carefully timed, otherwise they would fail to explode before breaking apart on the ground or explode too soon in the air. Later models had impact fuses and stabilizing fins which were improved on over time. Earlier barrel bombs also weighed less (100–300 pounds/45–150 kg), while later versions range from 1,000 pounds (454 kg) to 1 ton(ne).
Barrel bombs by country
Israel
Barrel bombs were used by the Israeli Air Force during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. On July 15–16, the Israeli Air Force dropped barrel bombs on the town of Saffuriyya during Operation Dekel. Historian Nafez Nazzal quotes one of the villagers, the quartermaster of the Saffuriyya militia, describing the attack:
{ { Quote|Three Jewish planes flew over the village and dropped barrels filled with explosives, metal fragments, nails and glass. They were very loud and disrupting ... They shook the whole village, broke windows, doors, killed or wounded some of the villagers and many of the village livestock. We expected a war but not an air and tank war.<ref>{ { cite book |title=The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee, 1948 |publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies |author=Nafez Nazzal |year=1978 |page=75 }}</ref>}}
United States
In April 1968, during Operation Inferno of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped dozens of barrels filled with incendiary fuel and tear gas-equivalent, in order to start forest fires and to flush out Viet Cong guerrillas in the U Minh forest. The bombs were not aimed at heavily populated areas and in the end were not very effective at starting forest fires.
Sri Lanka
During the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009), barrel bombs were used by government forces. William Dalrymple reported that the Sri Lanka Air Force, lacking modern bombers, used Chinese Y-12 transport planes to drop improvised bombs packed into wooden barrels onto civilian areas in the northern peninsula of Jaffna. A 1990 newspaper reported that "barrel bombs - 210 litre cast iron barrels packed with explosives, rubber and saw dust" were used against residential areas knocking out 20 houses at a time in the Jaffna region.