Necessity: still the mother of invention.
Syrian rebels in the town of Bishqatin have built one of the most high-tech, makeshift tanks ever created, the AFP reports.
Based on a small diesel-powered automobile, the armored vehicle has been covered in rusty one-inch thick steel plating capable of protecting its occupants from small arms fire. A pair of sealed-beam headlights mounted on front making it look something like a cartoon character.
With no windows to see out of, the so-called Sham II -- a reference to the ancient name of Syria, not a suggestion that it is a hoax -- has four video cameras mounted around it that show the outside view on a flat screen TV in front of the driver.
A remote-controlled roof mounted 7.62 mm gun fitted with its own camera is operated by a gunner in the passenger seat using the handset from a Playstation as he watches the action on a second screen.
The tank’s designers say it took them just one month to build it at a cost of around $10,000.
Sham II has yet to be tested in battle, but an earlier version called Sham I that only protects the driver has already been used in the fighting around the city of Aleppo by the Al-Ansar rebel brigade, according to its creator.