The increase in the price of firearms has also become an added concern for the people who are now buying AK-47 firearms for $600 to $1,000 compared to a year ago which ranged from $75 to $100.

Ghassan Qarhani, a former fighter familiar with the arms market says outdated arms such as rocket-propelled grenade launchers, once considered the "garbage of weapons," are gaining value. Today, RPG launchers cost $500, up from $50, he says.

Qarhani, who lives in the northern coastal city of Tripoli, estimated that half of the residents in the city's low-income Sunni neighborhoods now possess weapons.

A couple of years ago, "very, very few were armed," he says.

Source: Iran TV