ISIS Teams Up with Iraqi Scientists to Obtain Chemical Weapons

“The Associated Press reports that Iraqi and us intelligence officials have stated that ISIS has “[set] up a branch dedicated to research and experiments with the help of scientists from Iraq, Syria”.

The threat was red-flagged on Thursday in the form of an unusual warning from French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who said his country is at risk of chemical and biological terrorist attacks.

USA officials, while concerned about Islamic States aggressive pursuit of lethal weapons, have been more cautious about its actual capabilities.

Iraqi officials have raised concerns that a large area controlled by extremists, since the group overran parts of Iraq and Syria a year ago, has left authorities largely in the dark about Isis activities.

GoLocal teamed up with Graphiq to take a look at the number of fatalities that resulted from chemical weapon terror attacks and the number of terrorist attacks using chemical weapons in each year. Twenty-five percent of troops have been provided with masks so far, AP reports, citing a senior officer in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad.

Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defence committee said: “Daesh [Isis] is working very seriously to reach production of chemical weapons, particularly nerve gas”.

Western officials, as well as allies in the Middle East, are trying to keep a close watch on what may be an ambitious and growing chemical weapons program by the Islamic State terror group.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which enforces a global treaty, announced earlier this month that it had determined with “utmost confidence” that a “non-state actor” used the outlawed agent outside Aleppo, Syria, in August, likely killing a baby.

President Obama’s incremental ISIS strategy, which relies on airstrikes and modest support to local ground forces in Iraq and Syria, has come under renewed criticism from Republican opponents, among others, after the Paris attacks.

The term “Daesh” comes from the transliteration of the Arabic name by which the group refers to itself: al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham.

“We are also aware that they have been looking at anthrax and ricin, which are biological toxics to potentially use”.

Also in March, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council in Iraq claimed ISIS had deployed weaponized chlorine gas in recent attacks.

Islamic State has set up a branch tasked with pursuing chemical weapons, according to a senior Iraqi military-intelligence officer and two officials of another Iraqi intelligence agency.

“Even a few competent scientists and engineers, given the right motivation and a few material resources, can produce hazardous industrial and weapons-specific chemicals in limited quantities”, he told the AP.

In it, the deputy, Sameer al-Khalifawy, wrote that chemical weapons would ensure “swift victory” and “terrorise our enemies”.

“The difficulty they may face is in obtaining the raw materials”, he said.