Al-Qassam's Ghoul sniper rifles mark Palestinian excellence

By Ali Halawi
Source: Al Mayadeen English
21 Dec 2023 04:22
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The Ghoul sniper rifle has been deployed by al-Qassam Brigades throughout the Israeli incursion of the Gaza Strip. Find out more about the specifications and history of this rifle in this short article.

Al-Qassam snipers shoot their Ghoul sniper rifles at a shooting range, as part of a promotional video of the anti-material sniper rifle. (Al-Qassam Brigades/Military media)

Al-Qassam Brigades released cinematic footage of the production process of its "Ghoul" anti-material sniper rifle, on Wednesday.

The footage took the internet by storm, as enthusiastic supporters of the Palestinian Resistance, toured a military production room of Hamas' military wing. Although much is unknown about these production rooms, the military media has brought to light some of the production processes in footage released since October 7, as part of its psychological warfare targeting the Israeli enemy.

Such facilities are responsible for producing weapons, ranging from small firearms to long-rage artillery rockets that can hit targets 250 km away.

Interestingly, this is the first time that the Brigades reveal, in detail, the production process of the Ghoul rifle, which has been named in honor of martyr Engineer Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior al-Qassam official assassinated by "Israel" in 2004.

#كتائب_القسام تبث مشاهد بعنوان "صنعنا بأيدينا ما نحصد به رؤوسكم" #الميادين #طوفان_الأقصى pic.twitter.com/mBjbQzo1Ir
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 20, 2023

Silencing critics

In fact, the Ghoul sniper rifle was first introduced in 2014, during "Israel's" failed invasion of the Gaza Strip. Western media outlets paid special attention to the firearm, which highlighted a huge leap in the Resistance's production capabilities.

At the time, outlets such as the US-based The Washington Post led a media campaign, falsely claiming that the Palestinian Resistance had not acquired the knowledge or expertise to produce such a weapon. The WP published an article, in August of 2014, alleging that the Ghoul is actually the Austrian-made Steyr HS.50 anti-material sniper rifle.

Although the two rifles are extremely similar, since the Ghoul is a reverse-engineered rifle, the article produced no credible evidence that the al-Qassam Brigades had not produced their own version of the anti-material rifle.

"Hamas’ claim to have indigenously manufactured this rifle is totally false — from what is visible on the video, it’s clearly an Austrian Steyr HS.50 rifle," Charles Lister, told WP at the time. The Western propagandist said that Hamas probably bought the rifle off of the black market, attempting to belittle the engineering capabilities of the Palestinian Resistance faction.

"While the Qassam Brigades might achieve some level of internal morale boost by claiming things like this, the blatant falsity apparent to experts suggests a level of desperation on Hamas’ part," Lister told WP.

More than nine years after Lister's "expert" remarks, al-Qassam Brigades released the footage titled, "We will continue to kill your soldiers by our locally manufactured snipers," to put all doubts to bed and silence critics.

The #GhoulSniper is yet another homegrown weapon by the #Palestinian Resistance.

The sniper is widely used in operations to combat the invading Israeli forces in #Gaza.

Learn more about the sniper: pic.twitter.com/ICzzC5hsxw
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 26, 2023

Ghoul rifle specifications

The single-shot bolt-action rifle was first manufactured to fire 14.5x114 mm cartridges, according to information released by al-Qassam Brigades in 2014. The Brigades also stated that the first iteration of the Ghoul had an effective range of 2 km and anti-material capabilities.

The updated version of the Ghoul rifle has kept its anti-material capabilities, as seen in the video published by al-Qassam on December 20. In fact, rounds fired at steel targets penetrated the targets and exploded upon impact.

Qassam 12.7 mm rounds rip through steel metal targets at a shooting range. (Al-Qassam Brigades/Military media)

The newly updated version of the Ghoul rifle uses 12.7x99 mm rounds, similar to the Steyr HS. 50 rifle. The cartridges are also locally produced, as seen in the footage, where al-Qassam fighters work on shaping and filling the rounds, to produce a final product that has dropped Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

The casing of the bullet reads "QASSAM 12.7" matching the Ghoul's receiver which reads "Qassami Ghoul Sniper Rifle."

The receiver of a "Ghoul" sniper rifle is seen as al-Qassam Brigades fighters finalize the production process of several homegrown rifles. (Al-Qassam Brigades/Military media)

Adnan al-Ghoul

The Ghoul sniper rifle was deployed on several occasions in the Gaza Strip, specifically on December 5 and 7. In total, al-Qassam fighters confirmed hits on 10 Israeli occupation soldiers to the east of Khan Younis in these two days. In one operation, several snipers shot down at least six soldiers in one area in the al-Rannah axis to the northeast of the city of Khan Younis.

An illustrated photo of al-Qassam Brigades Engineer, martyr Adnan al-Ghoul. (Al-Qassam Brigades/Military media)

Al-Qassam fighters, through their successful targeting of Israeli occupation forces in 2014 and 2023, have engraved al-Ghoul's name and legacy into stone. The senior engineer and commander was assassinated by an Israeli attack helicopter "leaving behind his work, knowledge, and jihad," al-Qassam's military media wrote in a memorial published this year on the anniversary of his martyrdom.

"Abu Bilal" left behind a number of student engineers who carried on his legacy and worked on producing the Ghoul anti-material sniper rifle.

A commonality among Resistance factions in Palestine is commemorating the names of their greatest martyrs by naming locally produced devices and weapons after them. Indeed, naming the anti-material rifle after Adnan al-Ghoul ensured "that even after his martyrdom, [the Resistance leader's] name continues to haunt the [Israeli] occupiers, who believed that with his death, they would find relief from his [acts of Resistance]."