On Monday, members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria paraded through Raqqa, Syria, the group’s de facto capital, in a show of success and mystique. Credit Image by Reuters
Abandoned U.S.-Made Arms A Weapons Windfall For ISIS -- Seattle Times/L.A. Times
There is no full accounting of the stocks of plundered arms, ordnance and gear. But experts agree the insurgents’ haul is huge — with implications for the merging wars in both Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Six months ago, Sunni Arab extremists faced a daunting firepower imbalance in their uprising against the U.S.-equipped Iraqi army west of Baghdad.
But once their campaign for the city of Fallujah was launched in January, their lethal capabilities were bolstered from the stockpiles of the Iraqi armed forces. Many soldiers fled, throwing down their weapons, which were picked up by the insurgents.
Police stations and security posts overrun by Sunni extremists yielded more martial booty to be turned against the forces of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s Shiite Muslim-led government.
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My Comment: The website Debka .... with links to Israel's military/intelligence community .... estimates the ISIS weapons haul from deserting Iraqi soldiers will be enough to arm 200,000 fighters.
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