RTIslamic State has published a new video in which a jihadist shows off brand-new American hardware, which was purportedly intended for the Kurds they are fighting in the Syrian border town of Kobani.
The undated video, posted by the unofficial IS mouthpiece “a3maq news”, sees a jihadist showing several boxes of munitions with English-language markings, with a parachute spread out on the ground beside.
Although it is unclear what was the bundle shown in the video, the militant explains that “this is some of the military equipment that was dropped by American forces.”
“These are the bombs that the American forces dropped for the Kurdish parties,” he says. “They are spoils of war for the Mujahedeen.”
On Sunday the US said that three of its Air Force C-130 planes successfully delivered 27 bundles of military and medical supplies, which it said were not from the US, but from Kurds in Iraq.
On Monday, however, the US Central Command admitted that originally there had been 28 deliveries, and a “stray bundle” had to be destroyed “to prevent these supplies falling into enemy hands.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that the weapons dropped by the US may have ended up in the hands of the militants, AP reports. No independent verification has yet been made of the video showing munitions, hand grenades, and other weaponry.
Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin says that he is not surprised that IS fighters may have gotten their hands on a US air-drop.
“This is not surprising. Because it is necessary to coordinate clearer (action) with the Syrian government and generally act on the basis of the decisions of the Security Council,” Churkin told TASS.
Meanwhile Bashar Jaafari, Syrian envoy to the UN, told the news agency that while he could not confirm that IS has intercepted US weapons, Syria, he says was not notified of US arms drops.
“No, we were not informed (about air drops). They did it only once, when the American permanent representative (Samantha Power) met with me to inform my government through me about the beginning of the military operation,” Jaafari said.
The video itself caused quite a stir on the social media landscape with users“thanking”Washington for delivering the arms into the wrong hands, something the US has in the past vowed to avoid.
White House Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes meanwhile insisted US cargo always reaches the correct destination and people.
“We feel very confident that, when we air drop support as we did into Kobani… we’ve been able to hit the target in terms of reaching the people we want to reach,” Rhodes told CNN on Monday.
“What I can assure people is that, when we are delivering aid now, we focus it on the people we want to receive that assistance. Those are civilians in need. Those are forces that we’re aligned with in the fight against ISIL [the government’s preferred acronym for IS], and we take precautions to make sure that it’s not falling into the wrong hands.”
The US-led coalition has conducted over 135 air strikes against IS targets around Kobani, including 4 on Tuesday, this week was the first time Washington had delivered arms to Kurdish fighters via airdrop“intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL’s attempts to overtake Kobani,” said US Central Command.
Following the delivery, spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighting IS forces, Redur Xelil said that the military assistance dropped by “American planes at dawn on Kobani was good… It will have a positive impact on military operations against Daesh (ISIS) and we hope for more.” Xelil also claimed that the delivery drop was coordinated.
The latest weapons claimed by the Islamic State militants will add to the vast arsenal of US weaponry that IS seized in Iraq in a sudden sweep in June. IS launched its offensive on Kobani on September 16 sparking a massive exodus of some 200,000 refugees into Turkey and worldwide protests of Kurds and their supporters.
All the bombing has done is the equivalent of stamping on mushrooms. You end up with a whole lot of little mushrooms scattered about to the 4 winds. Only way bombing works is by herding and then corralling a fleeing enemy. Then you hammer them hard with something big.
Good grief folks we are in one hell of a mess that needs to get cleaned up.
Only one way to take hold territory is with the infantry. You can’t do it with air power, and you can’t do it with armor.
Even a rank amateur like me knows that. Its a given that the generals and military people know a lot more about the operational art than I, and am pretty sure they wouldn’t make blunders like this. The other possibility is that they were ordered to and went ahead and did it.
The other possibility, and this one I don’t even want to believe, is that we have two militaries. Yes. I said that. 2, that is TWO MILITARIES!!!! One is comprised of largely patriots who don’t have a clue of what the other military is doing or that they even exist. The second one is operating almost like the KGB or SS. Just as well funded, just as well equipped, and totally EVIL. It is possible that a secret military with an air force, army, and navy could be built and manned. Any of the Rust belt states this could be done without a whole lot of problems. If I can conceive of such things its a good bet the filthy creeps running this country certainly could.
Am I close?
Why none of this makes any sense: if we have the technology to steal and hide a passenger jet, we have the technology to booby trap and remote detonate any military equipment that is air-dropped, in case it falls into “enemy” hands.
Call me stupid, but those look like pineapple grenades. If so, then look at the picture very close because they appear to be inert. There is no spoon, therefor, no cap. They won’t work. Look at the way the guy is holding it, he is covering the hole the cap and spoon screw in. I call BS, all fake BS.
Good eye Redhorse,
I don’t see anything on top either. WTF? do they build these things up later or what? Or do they come ready to use right out of the box?
Separate crate with IKEA instructions, some assembly required?!
Well they are supposed to come ready to use, however Martist might be right about IKEA with instructions. They may as well been dropped a box of rocks.
they need some assembly
reasons for this
one of the reasons is.. falling to the ground in a crate , even arrested by a parachute could end up creating a chain reaction of grenades going off due to impact ..it only takes one pin to be knocked out and LOOKOUT!
wouldnt want to be anywhere near a crate full of grenades going off , especially when they are supposed to be dropped into an area of “friendlies”
still a good eye catching this
another thing to pay attention to ..is when they say they busted someone with a (1)grenade
as you see they dont come individually wrapped ..lol they come in a crate and a separate crate or box inside will have the rest of the needed supplies to make them a true grenade
Well I spent three years in the army and never assembled anything in the field. It all came ready to use, no battery’s needed. Course these haven’t been used since the Korean war, so maybe kid gloves are required.
Redhorse.
it might be that they were already put together before you were issued them?
or this protocol came after they had a bad accident or two
ask yourself.. would you want a box of live grenades dropped in your safe zone? or your pick up zone?
and it may just be that since this design is so old that these were decom , than sent out on this conflict.. or hell it could all be nothing but a bunch of government lies in a box.. im on the fence but think the latter is the case