With the weapons of the Islamic State

Wars cannot be fought without weapons: the Islamic State has many of them. On one hand, because they have captured a lot of material from the fleeing Iraqi army, but also because, as a pseudo-state, they were able to organize their own supply. Where these weapons come from is an intriguing question answered in a study by Conflict Armament Research (CAR). And part of the answer is more than sensitive:

“CAR has documented and traced numerous weapon systems in service with IS forces. Many derive from shipments made to the US government, or to entities operating under US government contracts. The United States has acknowledged its support to Syrian opposition forces, orchestrated primarily through resupply from the territories of Jordan and Turkey. All of the shipments originated in EU Member States; in most cases, US retransfers (exports made after purchase by the United States) contravened clauses in end-user certificates (EUCs) issued by the United States to EU supplier governments.

The United States signed these certificates prior to transfer, stated that it was the sole end user of the materiel, and committed not to retransfer the materiel without the supplier government’s prior consent. It did not notify the supplier states concerned before retransferring the materiel.“