Free Syrian Army builds homemade bombs

GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton, now traveling inside Syria witnessed the Free Syrian Army rebels in the country's northern Idlib province making bombs both big and small at a makeshift factory over the weekend. Shelton snapped this photo, which shows some of the finished products. Free Syrian Army soldiers are in the background mixing explosive chemicals.

The increased use of roadside bombs has some comparing Syria to Iraq. An influx of foreign jihadist fighters invokes the same comparisons.

From Shelton's report:

"…in a warehouse nearby, rebel fighters feverishly prepared bombs. As fertilizer and sugar boiled together in a large pot, a large metal tube was filled with explosives. In the corner, bombs made from old teakettles, barrels and 23mm bullet casings were set with wicks. Others made remote detonators from automatic garage door openers. The homemade explosives ranged in size from handheld devices to something resembling a 44-gallon drum, and another thinner metal casing around 1.5 meters in length.

“The army killed my brother with one of these,” said Humza, a 25-year-old rebel fighter as he held several bullet casings in his hand. “They tried to kill us with these bullets. Now we are turning them into grenades to throw back at them.”