Counter Terrorism ـ Chemical weapons used by ISIS
Chemical weapons used by the Islamic State? What a disturbing UN report reveals
Ukdaily.news ـ A United Nations report unveiled on Monday, December 5 reveals that the Islamic State would have used chemical weapons on several occasions during the time of its self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Iraq.UN experts have uncovered evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the Islamic State jihadist group during the time of its self-proclaimed “caliphate”, says a report which was to be debated on Monday (December 5th) by the Security Council. security.Members of Unitad, the team of investigators responsible for helping to bring IS to account for its crimes, claim to have collected “testimonial, digital and documentary evidence” relating in particular to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq under the Caliphate (2014-2019).
Experts conclude that IS “has manufactured and produced chemical rockets and mortars, chemical rocket launcher ammunition, chemical missile warheads and improvised explosive devices”.The investigation was particularly interested “in the financing, supply and logistics of (ISIS) and its links with the elements of command, to better understand what were the alleged sites of manufacture, production and use of weapons in Iraq, to obtain further information on the agents manufactured (…) and the vectors used”.
“Significant amount of evidence”
The experts focused in particular on an attack perpetrated against Taza Khormatu on March 8, 2016. They claim to have collected “a significant amount of evidence”, including “payroll statements and elements of correspondence” from the jihadist group . The team “examined evidence of compensation from families for the ‘martyrdom’ of their members killed while handling chemical weapons (…) and records of training provided (…) to high position on the use of chemical substances as weapons, in particular chemical dispersal devices”.Among the products used were “aluminum phosphide, chlorine, Clostridium botulinum bacteria, cyanide, nicotine, ricin, and thallium sulphate”. The report highlights “the medical complications currently suffered by residents of Taza Khormatu (chronic diseases, cancers and reproductive disorders, in particular)”.
“Money services”
It also discusses other major crimes, including mass sexual violence, the persecution of the Christian community of Iraq and other communities, as well as the destruction of cultural and religious heritage.Furthermore, referring to the financing of ISIS, Unitad “has significantly increased its evidence base against those who, in the commercial networks of money services, provided logistical support to (ISIS) and fired profit from its campaigns of violence”. According to her, “functional links have been established between the networks in Mosul and Baghdad and the larger regional networks in the Middle East and the Gulf region”.
Elements “demonstrate a close association” between the leaders of the IS “and certain money services companies, which became complicit in schemes of extortion of funds from the local population, in which they ensured the management and transfer of plundered wealth”. The group has also begun to examine the “takeover and exploitation” of Iraqi oil.The jihadists had established in June 2014 a “caliphate” in a vast region straddling Iraq and Syria. An international coalition, led by the United States, had fought the organization until the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), dominated by the Kurds, seized in March 2019 the last stronghold of the IS, Baghouz (eastern Syria), signing the end of the “caliphate”.
