The World

Firing Mortars? There’s an App for That. 

Designed by Apple in California. Used by rebels on the battlefields of Syria.

The video above appears to show Free Syrian Army Rebels using an iPad in order to aim a mortar. The video below from last year, (via Brown Moses) provides a better view of the app around the 2:50 mark:

It looks like the fighters are mostly just using the device as a level. Business Insider features another photo of the iPad being used,  and quotes a former U.S. army mortarmen speculating that the rebels are relying on the devices “because they don’t have sights on the mortars to help level it out and aim at a target.”

It isn’t the first time modern wireless devices have found their way into combat. In 2011, the Australian reported on Libyan rebels relying on iPhone compasses and Google Earth in their fight against Qaddafi’s forces.