In Syria, Bashar Al-Assad's regime has a new terrifying weapon: exploding pipes.
The weapon has reportedly been tested in recent weeks as the battle for Aleppo rages on, French newspaper Le Monde reports.
According to locals who spoke to Le Monde, the weapon has been used at least five times in the parts of the city that are still controlled by rebel groups.
The weapon looks like a fire hose, but instead of water, it is filled with shrapnel and explosives.
The pipes are then dropped from helicopters, much like barrel bombs, which the Assad government has been launching onto its population for years.
This kind of weapon is normally used to secure minefields before sending in troops, but in those cases, they are fired from the ground. According to Le Monde, it can be fired from a UR 77 Meteorit, a type of Russian tank.
One of those tanks had been spotted in Damascus in 2014, but already then it was being used to destroy enemy positions, not to clear minefields.
Since a cease-fire broke down at the end of April, a fierce battle for the control of Aleppo has opposed the Syrian government forces, helped by the Russians, and different insurgent groups.
Syrian regime reportedly tests new improvised hose bombs over #Aleppo city:https://t.co/mG9rr5qz4s via @SyriaDirectpic.twitter.com/RPtlBQsBU0
Aid has recently been cut from rebel-held areas of the city for the longest period since the war began due to an escalation in air strikes and bombardments. This, in turn, has driven up food prices and made life for people in Aleppo worse than before, Reuters reports.
Assad recently said he would win back "every inch" of Syria and that Aleppo would be "the grave where all the dreams and hopes" of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would "be buried," after he accused the Turkish President of sending thousands of militants to the city, according to Reuters.
Syria's bloody civil war, now in its fifth year, has claimed the lives of over 250,0000 people and displaced an estimated 9 million people.
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