ISIS had plans to launch chemical warfare - evidence unearthed in Mosul

Iraqi special forces have unearthed evidence that tends to indicate that Islamic State were planning to launch a chemical warfare from western Mosul by using long and short-range missiles tipped with chemical or biological war heads. This assumption is based on analysis of material that have been taken by French special forces working with Iraqi units in the city.
It seems there is a warehouse and unloading area near the Tigris River where dozens of missiles were stored alongside makeshift launchers. These weapons had Russian markings and are thought to have come from Syria. Most of the missiles were designed to be fired by jets but one, a 10ft-long missile, is a type of Scud. Even if it was released from a makeshift launcher, it could carry its lethal payload quite far.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 28 January 2017.

Islamic State fighters had been working on the Scud and the area smelt strongly of chemicals. The French soldiers advised the Iraqi team to observe all precautions since the whole area was contaminated and necessary tests were being carried out to determine the nature of the chemicals.
There were large refrigerated cargo carriers and these were loaded with coking coal but, buried inside, there were containers with the unidentified substance. There have been allegations of the use of chemical weapons, particularly chlorine, in the Syrian conflict. However, the latest discovery of a substance probably more lethal than chlorine, is a new development.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo kill at least four

A suspected chlorine gas attack in Aleppo in Syria has led to at least four deaths. It is believed that the gas was dropped alongside barrel bombs on the Zubdiya neighborhood. This is in the rebel-held part of the city. A manager of the Al Quds hospital has indicated that he had recorded four deaths and 55 injuries and was preserving pieces of patients' clothing and pieces of the bombs as evidence.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed that a woman and her child were among the dead.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 11 August 2016.

A video posted by an opposition news portal showed a child and adults wearing breathing apparatus. Moreover, two of the men reported about the strong smell of gas. They also said about seeing barrel bombs before people began to suffer breathing and eye problems.
It seems both the sides have denied using chemical weapons but United Nations investigators say that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta three years ago. This had killed an estimated 1,429 people, including at least 426 children. Subsequently, in late 2015, mustard gas was used in the conflict. This was confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Aleppo is Syria's most populous city before the war and has been the subject of a bitter fight between rebel forces and those under the command of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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CIA reveals - ISIS have used chemical weapons and can make chlorine and mustard gas

#ISIS #peshmerga #mustardgas #chlorinegas CIA director John Brennan has revealed that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons in the past and are capable of making small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas. Last year, officials in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan had indicated that blood tests had shown that IS fighters had made use of mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish peshmerga forces in August. As many as 35 Peshmerga fighters had been exposed and some of them were taken abroad for treatment. At that time, there were apprehensions that IS had used mustard agent.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 12 February 2016.

The director of CIA has indicated that there has been several instances of where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield. The CIA also believes that the IS group has the ability to make small amounts of mustard or chlorine gas for weapons. Moreover, there are possibilities that the Islamic State group could export the weapons to the West for financial gain.
Hence, it is necessary to cut off the various transportation routes and smuggling routes that they have used to carry on their activities. President Bashar al-Assad`s regime and rebel forces have accused each other of using chemical agents in the nearly five-year war that has killed more than 250,000 people.


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Evidence emerges of ISIS using chemical weapons like chlorine gas

#peshmerga #ISIS #kurds #chlorinegas #chemicalweapon It has been claimed by Kurdish authorities that evidence has emerged that will prove that ISIS is using chlorine gas as a chemical weapon in its battle against peshmerga forces in Iraq. This is based on the discovery of ‘20 gas canisters' that had been loaded on the back of a truck that was involved in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq on January 23.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 14 March 2015.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council has revealed that the chemical attack happened on a road between Iraq's second largest city of Mosul and the Syrian border. This was the area where peshmerga fighters were desperately trying to seize the vital supply line that was being used by the militants. The discovery of the chlorine gas canisters was found at that time.
A Kurdish official indicated that many peshmerga fighters were treated for 'dizziness, nausea, vomiting and general weakness' after the attack when the gas cylinders exploded and the gas was released. Traces of chlorine gas were discovered after samples of clothing and soil from the site were analyzed.
It may be recalled that during the Syrian civil war, a chlorine gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus in 2013 had killed hundreds and US was about to launch airstrikes against the government.

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