'Weapons of the Islamic State' 200 page report
In the three years between July 2014 and
November 2017, Conflict Armament Research
(CAR) deployed its field investigation teams
across Islamic State (IS) forces’ frontline positions.
These operations covered an unbroken arc of
territory extending from the northern Syrian city of
Kobane to the south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
While this report does not provide an exhaustive
overview of all IS weapons and their origins, it is
unquestionably the most comprehensive, verified
study of the group’s weapons to date.
The report presents an analysis of more than
40,000 items recovered from IS forces between
2014 and 2017. Many of these items originated in
shipments that run into the thousands. These
items encompass weapons, ammunition, and the
traceable components and chemical precursors
used by IS forces to manufacture improvised
explosive devices (IEDs). With the extensive
cooperation of national governments and
producer companies, CAR traced many of these
items to establish the precise lines of supply that
brought them from the place of manufacture to
the conflicts raging in Iraq and Syria. Some of
the data featured in this report has formed the
basis of several criminal proceedings, including
investigations by Belgian police into supplies of
IED components. The report finds that:
• Around 90 per cent of weapons and ammunition
(97 per cent and 87 per cent, respectively)
deployed by IS forces are Warsaw Pact calibres—
originating primarily in China, Russia, and
Eastern European producer states. NATO-calibre
weapons and ammunition are far less prevalent,
comprising 3 per cent and 13 per cent of the
total, respectively; although these proportions
are low, IS forces captured significant quantities
of NATO weaponry during initial assaults on Iraqi
forces in 2014.
• Unauthorised retransfer—the violation of
agreements by which a supplier government
prohibits the re-export of materiel by a recipient
government without its prior consent—is
a significant source of IS weapons and
ammunition. The United States and Saudi
Arabia supplied most of this materiel without
authorisation, apparently to Syrian opposition
forces. This diverted materiel, recovered from
IS forces, comprises exclusively Warsaw Pact-
calibre weapons and ammunition, purchased
by the United States and Saudi Arabia from
European Union (EU) Member States in Eastern
Europe.