Reports That Islamic State Fighters Are Now Using Chemical Weapons Is Raising Fears Of Gas Warfare In Syria And Iraq

A 120-millimeter mortar shell struck fortifications at a Kurdish military position near the Mosul Dam in June, arms experts said, sickening several Kurdish fighters who were nearby. Credit Conflict Armament Research and Sahan Research

New York Times: ISIS Has Fired Chemical Mortar Shells, Evidence Indicates

The Islamic State appears to have manufactured rudimentary chemical warfare shells and attacked Kurdish positions in Iraq and Syria with them as many as three times in recent weeks, according to field investigators, Kurdish officials and a Western ordnance disposal technician who examined the incidents and recovered one of the shells.

The development, which the investigators said involved toxic industrial or agricultural chemicals repurposed as weapons, signaled a potential escalation of the group’s capabilities, though it was not entirely without precedent.

Beginning more than a decade ago, Sunni militants in Iraq have occasionally used chlorine or old chemical warfare shells in makeshift bombs against American and Iraqi government forces. And Kurdish forces have claimed that militants affiliated with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, used a chlorine-based chemical in at least one suicide truck bomb in Iraq this year.

More News On Reports That Islamic State Fighters Are Now Using Chemical Weapons Against the Kurds In Syria

Islamic State used poison gas in northeast Syria: Kurds, monitor -- Reuters
Kurdish militia claims Isis using poison gas in attacks against them -- The Guardian
Isil 'chemical attack' on Kurds raises fear of gas warfare -- The Telegraph
ISIL uses chemical weapons against Kurds -- The National
Kurds claim ISIS used chemical weapons in Syria -- Al Arabiya
Report: IS May Have Used Chemical Agents on Kurds -- VOA
ISIS Used Unknown Poison Gas Against Kurdish Fighters In Northeastern Syria: Kurds, Monitor Group -- IBTimes
Kurdish rebels say 'Islamic State' used poison gas in Syria -- Deutsche welle
Syria Kurds say IS used chemical weapons against them -- Times of Israel