Most ISIL weapons were seized from Iraqi army

Reffering to the types of small arms in ISIS’s arsenal, the report said they also use Iraqi-manufactured “Tabuk” M70s, based on the Serbian Zastava M70 series. He once derisively dismissed the group as a terrorist junior varsity team, said before the Paris attacks that it was contained in Syria and Iraq, and as recently as last week said there weren’t credible known threats against the U.S.

According to the report, local forces are inadvertently contributing to the arsenal.

A new study by Amnesty International claims much of the weaponry used by Islamic State (IS) fighters was supplied by the Western powers now trying to bomb it out of existence.

The letter’s proposed options include embedding US military advisors to aid Iraqi Security Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and Sunni tribal forces, and the deployment and embedding of additional USA troops to serve as Joint Terminal Attack Controllers to ensure that airstrikes are more precise.

Weapons supplied by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to rebel groups fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also routinely end up in the hands of Islamic extremists, when rebels defect or are captured. While the bulk of weapons were taken from the Iraqi military, others came in seizures from the Syrian military as well as opposition groups that have received shipments from Western supporters.

The weapons range from man-portable air defence surface-to air missile systems, guided anti-tank missiles, armoured vehicles, and modern assault rifles to Soviet Union-era Kalashnikovs.

The huge amounts of internationally manufactured weapons IS seized when it took Iraq’s second city Mosul in June 2014 were used to take over other parts of the country and commit crimes against civilians, the report said. “It’s been possible to accumulate weapons because for years and years there has been an absolutely irresponsible, out-of-control process of arming that region”, says Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada”.

United States military issue M16 rifles, Austrian and Russian sniper rifles and Chinese and Belgian machine guns are also among the weapons being used by the terrorists.

Other weapons have been acquired during battle, through illicit trade as well as through defection of fighters across Syria and Iraq.

The US-led coalition’s 2003 conflict with Iraq led to the disbanding of the Iraqi military that resulted in the further misappropriation of arms by soldiers.

“The big takeaway for us is that you have to look historically at this and the long process whereby states often recklessly and irresponsibly send arms to Iraq… often in a very uncoordinated and chaotic manner”, Wilcken said.

In his speech to the country on Sunday night, President Obama called on Congress to specifically give him the authorization to use military force against ISIS.

They must also adopt a “presumption of denial” rule on arms exports to Iraq, meaning that transfers could only be carried out after strict risk assessments.