page_title: Weapons of the Salvadoran Civil War
section_title: Battle and assault rifles
hierarchical_section_title: Weapons of the Salvadoran Civil War / Weapons of the FMLN / Small arms / Battle and assault rifles
caption_attribution_description: English: Belgian made fn fal
context_page_description: The Salvadoran Civil War was a military conflict that pitted the guerrilla forces of the left-wing Marxist-oriented Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front against the armed and security forces loyal to the military-led conservative government of El Salvador, between 1979 and 1992. Main combatants comprised:
  The Armed Forces of El Salvador, which were backed by the United States, Taiwan and Israel, were the official armed defense forces of El Salvador. Subordinated to the Ministry of Defense and Security of the Salvadoran government at the capital San Salvador, the FAES branches were organized as follows:
  Salvadoran Army
  Salvadoran Air Force
  Salvadoran Navy
  Paramilitary security forces:
  National Guard of El Salvador
  The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, more commonly known by its Spanish acronym FMLN, was an alliance or umbrella organization of five left-wing guerrilla groups created in 1980, which was backed by Cuba, Nicaragua, and the Eastern Bloc countries.
  An eclectic variety of weapons was used by both sides in the Salvadoran Civil War.
context_section_description: FN FAL: Most of the FAL rifles used by the guerrillas were traced by their serial numbers to rifles previously sold by Belgium to Cuba during the late Batista and early Castro years.
  Heckler & Koch G3: Captured
  M16A1: The bulk of the M16A1 rifles captured by government forces from the guerrillas were also traced from their serial numbers to shipments sent by the United States to the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) prior to the fall of the Saigon government in 1975.
  AK-47 (Included both the Soviet model and the North Korean Type 58)
  AKM (Variants also used included the Hungarian AK-63, East German MpiKMS-72, Romanian Pistol Mitralieră model 1963/1965 and the North Korean Type 68)
  Type 56
  T65 assault rifle: Captured
  Heckler & Koch HK33: Captured
  IMI Galil: Captured
  CAR-15: Captured
caption: FN FAL assault rifle
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