ISIS is producing weapons on a massive scale in Iraq, although its operations are under threat by advancing Iraqi forces.
The Islamic State (ISIS) terror organization was manufacturing weapons in and around Mosul in Iraq on an industrial scale, with products largely purchased in bulk from Turkey, according to a report published by an arms research group Wednesday.
The findings show that ISIS maintained a “robust and reliable” supply chain between Turkey and Iraq that allowed the terrorists to produce tens of thousands of weapons, the London-based Conflict Armaments Research said. The group’s researchers studied ISIS weapons found at manufacturing facilities and on the battlefield during the Iraqi operation to retake Mosul that is underway.
As Iraqi forces advance, the terrorists are losing the physical capacity to manufacture weapons on an industrial scale, but the research group’s executive director James Bevan warned that highly trained fighters will take their expertise with them as they retreat.
“Given that this group is so organized, they clearly see the writing on the wall in Mosul,” Bevan told The Associated Press, saying he believes ISIS has already moved its highest trained bomb-makers out of Mosul and into Syria and southern Turkey.
“They place a very high value on technical capacity and they will do everything they can to preserve it,” he said. Bevan added that ISIS likely looked to Turkey to purchase weapons ingredients, knowing that their demand would outstrip what is available in Iraq.
Previous reports indicate that ISIS had produced chemical weapons in the area. US forces have focused their operations on destroying the effort.
In March, during a raid in northern Iraq, US Special Forces captured the head of the ISIS unit that develops chemical weapons. The man was identified as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, who worked for Saddam Hussein’s now-dissolved Military Industrialization Authority, where he specialized in chemical and biological weapons.
ISIS has already deployed chemical weapons in the battlefield.
By: AP and World Israel News Staff