US, Saudis boosted ISIS arsenal: Study

London: Advanced weapons in the arsenal of Islamic State terrorists in Syria were made in the EU and delivered by the US and Saudi Arabia, a new study says. The deliveries were intended to prop up ‘moderate’ rebel groups, but resulted in arming the jihadists, reports RT.

The investigation by the London-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR) concludes that the weapons supplied to opposition groups “significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to [Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)] forces in numbers far beyond those that would have been available to the group through battlefield capture alone.”

More than half of the IS weapons recovered in the study were produced by Russia and China in between 1960 and 1989 – prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 Former Warsaw Pact states such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria – which are now members of the EU –  manufactured 30 percent of the weapons and 20 percent of the ammunition recovered by CAR. These countries produced the majority of the weapons documented in Iraq.

In Syria, most of the weapons recovered from IS were manufactured by Russia, followed by China and the EU states. “These findings support widespread assumptions that the group initially captured much of its military materiel from Iraqi and Syrian government forces,” the report says.

“This trend is plausibly the result of transfers made during the Cold War and of surplus transfers immediately after its end,” the report says. ISIS is known to have been armed largely with Soviet-era weapons.

IS militants overran the Iraqi army in Fallujah and other cities following the declaration of the IS caliphate in June, 2014. As Iraqi soldiers fled, jihadists raided arms depots and and bolstered their stockpiles from weapons provided to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-1988.

More advanced weapons were purchased from the European Union by the United States and Saudi Arabia and then supplied to Syrian opposition forces. These groups were then either defeated by or collaborated with IS forces battling to overthrow the Syrian government.

 

US, Saudis boosted ISIS arsenal: Study

London: Advanced weapons in the arsenal of Islamic State terrorists in Syria were made in the EU and delivered by the US and Saudi Arabia, a new study says. The deliveries were intended to prop up moderate rebel groups, but resulted in arming the jihadists, reports RT. The investigation by the London-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR) concludes that the weapons supplied to opposition groups significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to [Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)] forces in numbers far beyond those that would have been available to the group through battlefield capture alone. More than half of the IS weapons recovered in the study were produced by Russia and China in between 1960 and 1989 prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Former Warsaw Pact states such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria which are now members of the EU manufactured 30 percent of the weapons and 20 percent of the ammunition recovered by CAR. These countries produced the majority of the weapons documented in Iraq. In Syria, most of the weapons recovered from IS were manufactured by Russia, followed by China and the EU states. These findings support widespread assumptions that the group initially captured much of its military materiel from Iraqi and Syrian government forces, the report says. This trend is plausibly the result of transfers made during the Cold War and of surplus transfers immediately after its end, the report says. ISIS is known to have been armed largely with Soviet-era weapons. IS militants overran the Iraqi army in Fallujah and other cities following the declaration of the IS caliphate in June, 2014. As Iraqi soldiers fled, jihadists raided arms depots and and bolstered their stockpiles from weapons provided to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-1988. More advanced weapons were purchased from the European Union by the United States and Saudi Arabia and then supplied to Syrian opposition forces. These groups were then either defeated by or collaborated with IS forces battling to overthrow the Syrian government.