Thieves made off with large quantities of US weapons in Iraq, Syria: Report
A huge amount of US weapons and munitions meant for US occupation forces in Syria and Iraq have been stolen and lost, eventually ending up in the wrong hands, a new report has revealed.
The Intercept reported on Thursday that US military hardware worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, "including artillery equipment, unspecified weapons systems, and specialized ammunition," had been stolen in recent years.
Criminal investigation files, which were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by The Intercept, showed that at least four large-scale thefts and one loss of US equipment, valued at some $200,000, occurred in Iraq and Syria between 2020 and 2022. The lost items include 40mm high-explosive grenades stolen from US Special Forces.
The manner of the thefts followed a repeated pattern. The Intercept notes further that a 2020 audit by the Pentagon’s inspector general found that Special Operations Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve, the main unit that partners with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to illegally occupy northeast Iraq, did not properly account for $715.8 million of equipment purchased for the SDF.
The recent failure to prevent the theft of US-supplied weapons is concerning because this previously played a key role in the rise of Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, including Daesh and the al-Nusra Front, in Iraq and Syria.
In the spring of 2015, an extremist coalition led by the al-Nusra seized Syria’s Idlib governorate, in large part thanks to US-manufactured and supplied TOW anti-tank missiles. The missiles were originally supplied to Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups working closely with al-Nusra.
Following Russia's presence in Syria a few months later, which helped to stop the anti-Damascus forces – including al-Nusra, Daesh, and Ahrar al-Sham – in September 2015, the US military drastically escalated TOW missile shipments to FSA units working with these groups.
Back then, internationally-renowned journalist Sharmine Narwani asked US military officials why the US-supplied weapons and munitions were ending up in the hands of the anti-Damascus forces.
ME
