The Israel Defense Forces lost the Merkava Mark IV tank. The incident occurred at the end of last week. Video footage taken at the scene of the incident appeared on social networks.
A video of the burning Merkava tank of the Israel Defense Forces has been published online.
It is reported that the fire of the tank was allegedly caused by the hit of a missile or a mine by militants.
At the moment, there is no confirmation that such an incident took place pic.twitter.com/yyLZrm2oF6
— Vishwatma (@ashish100686) May 15, 2021
The combat vehicle is located on a semi-trailer, which is towed by a tractor. Clouds of thick black smoke can be seen rising into the sky. You can hear the bullets for the machine guns exploding from the open fire.
Immediately after the release of this video, there were various suggestions about the possible defeat of the tank by any anti-tank ammunition, in particular a guided missile. So far, however, neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian sides have provided any official comments.
Apparently, it is not a matter of external influence. The fire could have occurred due to a malfunction of the fuel system, as evidenced by the fuel spilled on the ground.
This is not the first Israeli tank lost due to a fire, there have been similar cases before.
Similar facts were recorded in other armies. For example, in the US ground forces last year, the Stryker armored personnel carrier and the M1A2 Abrams tank burned down.
In addition, heavy 70-ton Merkavas are often overturned when loading on trawls and on various exercises.
Alexey Moiseev