US Air Force destroys ISIS chemical threat in Iraq

In an effort to cut off ISIS’ main sources of revenue, kill its leaders and create organizational dysfunction, the US Air Force recently bombed a chemical production plant and other targets in Iraq.

US Air Force bombers destroyed a “significant chemical threat” near the northern city of Mosul in Iraq when it leveled a building complex used by the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group as a chemical weapons production plant, a US general stated Tuesday.

ISIS converted a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility into a plant used to produce lethal chemicals, possibly including chlorine and mustard gas, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, who commands the US Air Force operations in the Middle East, told reporters at the Pentagon.

He said the building was also an ISIS headquarters, but provided no details on the chemical production.

Harrigian described the airstrike as a large operation, which destroyed more than 50 targets at the site with 12 US warplanes, including Air Force B-52 bombers and Marine Corps F-18D Hornets.

Harrigian said the mission was part of a broader effort to cut off ISIS’ main sources of revenue, kill their leaders and create “organizational dysfunction” in ways that will shut down ISIS’ operation in the region.

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: World Israel News Staff
AP contributed to this report.