A Look At 5 Weapons That The Islamic State Uses That We Should Fear

Islamic State extremists captured a chemical weapons plant near Baghdad last month and now likely possess sarin-filled rockets, Iraqi officials told the United Nations on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Five ISIS Weapons of War America Should Fear -- Robert Farley, National Interest

ISIS’ path to prominence—from amassing large amounts of territory and taking on all challengers—lies in its choice of arms and tactics.

Over the past year, ISIS has scored a series of remarkable victories over Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian forces. It has succeeded despite a lack of access to the heavy weaponry that its opponents regularly field. Indeed, the heavy weaponry that ISIS has acquired has come mostly from “battlefield appropriation,” picking up the leftover weapons of its defeated foes.

ISIS has won by exploiting the vulnerabilities of its enemies, which take the form of Western military organizations, while lacking their fighting and communications discipline. This allows ISIS to identify, in both tactical and operational terms, weak points that can cause an entire enemy position to cave in upon itself. In essence, ISIS has an operational form that allows decentralized commanders to use their experienced fighters against the weakest points of its foes. At the same time, the center retains enough operational control to conduct medium-to-long term planning on how to allocate forces, logistics, and reinforcements.

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My Comment: I would add a six "weapon" to their arsenal .... the use of suicide bombers. Their reported use of chemical weapons is also something that we should be concerned about (and fear). The nightmare situation would be if they get a hold of these materials.