MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) – The Islamic State (IS) militants are using US-made arms and weapons, Lebanon’s Naharnet reported Monday.
The reports come after Conflict Armament Research, a London-Based small-arms research center, analyzed weapons that Kurdish fighters seized from IS militants in Iraq and Syria in July.
Among the US-made weapons identified by the research center were M16 assault rifles, which were tagged “Property of US Govt”.
Furthermore anti-tank rockets used by IS militants were “identical to M79 rockets transferred by Saudi Arabia to forces operating under the Free Syrian Army umbrella in 2013,” Naharnet reported referring to Conflict Armament Research’s report.
According to Naharnet.com, IS fighters have obtained large quantities of weapons following the capture of Syrian military installations and entry in northern Iraq several weeks ago.
The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni jihadist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories under its control later that month.
Since August, the United States has been conducting airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq as part of an operation, which, according to President Barack Obama, is aimed at protecting American personnel in the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region Irbil, as well as preventing the «genocide» of Iraqi religious minorities.
