IS weapons sourced from Russia, China, US and EU

THE Islamic State has a large and deadly arsenal of weapons. But perhaps even more disturbing than the scale of that arsenal is the source of it.

WEAPONS and arms from dozens of countries including Russia, China and the US have fallen into the hands of Islamic State militants who in turn have used them to kill, terrorise and attack.

A damning report by human rights group Amnesty International has found Islamic State atrocities have been fuelled by decades of reckless arms trading — and it’s partly the west’s fault.

In its report released today, Taking Stock: The arming of Islamic State, Amnesty reveal lax controls and decades of a poorly regulated arms trade are to blame for the terror group acquiring a huge and deadly arsenal of weapons.

A US Marine (USMC) reviews a captured Fedayeen weapons cache containing hundreds of Russian Dragunov automatic rifles, outside of Jaman Al Juburi, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Picture: US National Archives and Records Administration. Photographer USMC: Major Mayer/Scene Camera Operator: GYSGT Erik S. Hansen

Amnesty said widespread corruption within successive Iraqi governments had also given Islamic State unprecedented access to firepower.

The terror group have used these weapons to commit gross war crimes in both Syria and Iraq and also to take control over areas across Syria and Iraq.

The report draws on expert analysis of thousands of verified videos and images and details how IS fighters are using arms, mainly looted from Iraqi military stocks, which were manufactured and designed in more than two dozen countries, including EU states.

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

Patrick Wilcken, Researcher on Arms Control, Security Trade and Human Rights at Amnesty International said the vast and varied weaponry being used by militants was “a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale.”

An Iraqi tank junkyard in the desert near Al-Jahrah, Kuwait. Picture: Yann Arhtus-Bertrand

“Poor regulation and lack of oversight of the immense arms flows into Iraq going back decades have given IS and other armed groups a bonanza of unprecedented access to firepower,” he said.

According to Amnesty, IS fighters acquired a “windfall of internationally manufactured arms from Iraqi stockpiles” after taking control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June 2014.

IS fighters then paraded their windfall of internationally manufactured arms, including those from the US, on social media.

Chinese CQ 5.56 rifle captured from IS forces by Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units during the siege of Kobane (September 2014 — January 2015) and documented by a CAR Field Investigation team on 24 February 2015 in Kobane. Picture: Conflict Armament Research.

Amnesty’s report found these US-manufactured weapons and military vehicles were also used to take control of other parts of the country, with devastating consequences for the civilian population in those areas.

“The vast array of weapon types captured and illicitly acquired have enabled IS to carry out a horrific campaign of abuse,” Amnesty found.

“Summary killings, rape, torture, abduction and hostage-taking — often carried out at gunpoint — have forced hundreds of thousands to flee and become internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees.”

Taking Stock also details how Islamic State was only allowed to begin building its deadly arsenal due to “decades of irresponsible arms transfers to Iraq” something compounded by multiple failures to manage arms imports.

A Chinese made Kalashnikov and American M4 rifle (the latter captured from ISIS militants) lean against a wall in a building occupied by Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in Al-Yarubiyah, Syria. Picture: Conflict Armament Research.

HOW ISLAMIC STATE GOT WEAPONS:

Islamic State have used more than 100 different types of arms and ammunition from at least 25 countries, but according to Amnesty, a large majority of these were originally sourced by the Iraqi military from the US, Russia and former Soviet bloc nations.

“These arms flows were funded variously by oil barter arrangements, Pentagon contracts and NATO donations. The bulk have been seized from or leaked out of Iraqi military stocks,” Amnesty said.

Suspected ISIL or, in Arabic, Daesh fighters are detained by Kurdish Peshmerga forces after they fled their frontline village to a Kurdish-controlled area in Sinjar, Iraq. Picture: John Moore/Getty Images

WEAPONS ARSENAL:

While guns were among the list of weapons, Taking Stock documented how Islamic State also had access to more advanced weaponry such as man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), guided anti-tank missiles and armoured fighting vehicles.

Assault rifles like the Russian AK series and the US M16 and Bushmaster were also on the list.

Pistols, handguns, machine guns and anti-tank weapons, mortars and artillery date back to the 70s and 90s, while Soviet-era Kalashnikov-style rifles were mainly from Russian and Chinese manufacturers, the report found.

Islamic State militant convoy

SUPPLY CHAIN:

The report also details how Iraq’s long history of arms proliferation and complex supply chains no doubt helped IS obtain more recent arms gains.

The Iraq Army stockpiled weapons during the 70s and 80s, supplied by 34 different countries, 28 of which were also supplying Iran at the same time.

However it was during the US-led Iraq invasion that the country was flooded with weapons, many of which went missing and were never accounted for.

“Endemic corruption in the Iraqi military, as well as weak controls in place on military stockpiles and tracking weapons, meant there was an ongoing high risk of such weapons being diverted to armed groups including IS,” Amnesty found.

A Kurdish gunsmith holds an American made M16A4, previously owned by the Iraqi Army and then by the Islamic State, after the weapon was converted in to an M4 carbine type rifle. The weapon was captured from the Islamic State by a member of the Kurdish Peshmerga who wished to have it shortened. Picture: Matt Cetti-Roberts.

CALLS TO CURB ARMS TRADE:

Amnesty has called for a complete embargo on arms transfers to Syrian Government forces as well as opposition groups implicated in human rights abuses and war crimes.

It also called for strict risk assessments on all arms exports into Iraq and tighter control mechanisms to ensure such weapons will not be diverted to armed groups.

Mr Wilcken said the report should serve as a wake-up call to the world.

“The legacy of arms proliferation and abuse in Iraq and the surrounding region has already destroyed the lives and livelihoods of millions of people and poses an ongoing threat,” he said.

“The consequences of reckless arms transfers to Iraq and Syria and their subsequent capture by IS must be a wake-up call to arms exporters around the world.”